"Wealth"

Good morning, church. It's good to see you all this morning. Would you turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes?

! That's Ecclesiastes. We're in chapter 5 today. We're going to begin in verse 8 of chapter 5 and continue through the end of chapter 6.

So let me pray, and then I'll read our text for us.

Father, we ask that by Your Spirit, You would give us ears to hear what it is You are saying to us today through Your Word.

Father, we remember what the Apostle said about the Scriptures, that they are all breathed out by You and profitable for our good.

And Jesus, we remember how You told us that all of Scripture testifies to You.

So help us to know that good and to see You, Lord Jesus, as we meditate on Your Word today.

We pray this, Father, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. All right, Ephesians 5, verse 8 through the end of chapter 6.

Ephesians 5:8

Excuse me.

If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness,

do not be amazed at the matter.

For the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

But this is gain for a land in every way, a king committed to cultivated fields.

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.

This also is vanity.

When goods increase, they increase who eat them.

And what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun.

Riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture.

And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.

As he came from his mother's womb, he shall go out again, naked as he came,

and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

This also is a grievous evil.

Just as he came, so shall he go.

And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?

Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil

with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them

and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil.

This is the gift of God.

For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind,

a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor so that he likes nothing of all he desires.

Yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them.

This is vanity.

It's a grievous evil.

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many,

but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial,

I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered.

Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he.

Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good, do not all go to the one place.

All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.

For what advantage has the wise man over the fool, and what does the poor man have

who knows how to conduct himself before the living?

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite.

This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is,

and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.

The more words, the more vanity.

And what is the advantage to man?

For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life,

which he passes like a shadow?

For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

Okay.

So, our passage this morning is about money.

It's about money.

More specifically, it's about the love of money, or what we would call greed.

Verse 10, look there, that helps to kind of center us.

Verse 10 talks about the one who loves money and the one who loves wealth.

But greed, you know, is kind of a funny thing.

The sin of greed or covetousness has a way of being very hard to detect in yourself.

Compare that with something like murder.

It's easy to know when you've murdered someone, right?

It's easy to know when you've committed adultery.

It's easy to recognize maybe when you're sinfully angry at someone or when you're lusting after someone in your heart.

But greed is different.

Greed is much harder to detect.

In Luke 12, Jesus acknowledges this.

He says,

Take care.

Be on your guard against all covetousness or greed.

For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Now, if that were true in the first century when Jesus spoke those words, and if it was true hundreds of years before Jesus when Ecclesiastes was written,

how much more is that the case today that we have to be on guard to take care?

After all, money, profit, accumulation, advertising, this is the air that we breathe.

Everything is monetized and sold.

Have you seen the commercials where the kids are graduating from, like, middle school,

and the parents have sort of licensed out their name to the local, like, tanning salon and the local insurance broker?

Seems crazy, right?

Everything, though, is monetized and sold.

Money is sort of the story that we live by.

Theologian Susan White describes it this way.

She says,

If there's an overarching metanarrative that purports to explain reality in our day,

it is surely the metanarrative of the free market economy.

In the beginning of this narrative is the self-made, self-sufficient human being.

At the end of this narrative is the big house, the big car, the expensive clothes.

And in the middle is the struggle for success, the greed, the getting and spending in a world

where there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Most of us have made this so thoroughly our story, she says, that we're hardly aware of its influence.

Anecdotally, one school teacher observed that years ago,

when he asked his students what they wanted to be when they grew up,

they would say a profession, a teacher, a lawyer, an engineer.

But his observation was that not anymore.

Now, the overwhelming answer that he gets from his students is simply,

I want to be a billionaire.

Just rich.

That's what I want to be.

So perhaps we need the message of Ecclesiastes 5 and 6 now more than ever.

And I want to point out three things in our text as we consider it today.

The first thing that Ecclesiastes is going to show us is the problem with greed.

And then second, it's going to show us the alternative to greed.

And then third, the power to overcome greed.

So the power, excuse me, the problem, the alternative, and the power.

That's what we're going to do.

So first, let's look at the problem of greed.

This is in verses 8 through 17 of chapter 5, 8 through 17.

And there are really two problems that Ecclesiastes highlights with greed.

And the first problem is that greed corrupts society.

Verse 8 speaks about the oppression of the poor

and the violation of justice and righteousness.

But how did that oppression and violation of justice and righteousness and fairness come about?

Was it because there were just a few bad people spoiling it?

Was it because some people weren't taking enough personal responsibility?

No, Ecclesiastes says.

Greed's actually corrupted the whole system.

Don't be amazed at the matter, he says.

For the high official is watched by a higher.

And there are yet higher ones over them.

Now what does that mean?

What is he getting at there?

The high official is watched by a higher.

Well, the sense of that phrase is that the lower official who's taking advantage of the poor

is watched over and protected by a higher official who's also profiting from the injustice.

And those officials have yet higher ones over them

who are also getting rich from the oppression and injustices

against the weak and the vulnerable and the marginalized and poor.

So greed corrupts the institutions and authority structures all the way up.

And these structures were ones that got originally established to protect the poor and the vulnerable,

to ensure that land and resources and labor and wealth would not be amassed more and more by a few

while the rest kind of barely get by.

Verse 9 says,

The king is supposed to be committed to cultivated fields.

That is, protecting the rights of the people so they can work, cultivate their fields, and enjoy the fruit of their labor.

But instead, greed has created layers of injustice where that doesn't happen.

You know, in ancient Israel, God even established a system where every generation, roughly,

the ownership of land would revert back to the sort of ancestral clans and families

that were originally allotted the land.

This is what was called the year of Jubilee.

And when that happened, debts were canceled, slaves and servants were freed.

Basically, the whole economy was reset so that wealth wouldn't just be amassed in the hands of a few,

but so that the whole society could flourish.

And so that the main goal of society wouldn't actually be the accumulation of wealth,

but the cultivation of community and mutuality and the worship of God, not the worship of money.

But Ecclesiastes says,

Don't be surprised.

Greed corrupts.

Greed will create societies where the high official is watched over by a higher,

and there are yet higher ones over them,

making sure that the exploitation of the poor goes unchecked,

and making sure that the profits continue to flow to those in power.

But greed doesn't just damage society.

Ecclesiastes 5 points out a second problem with greed.

Greed damages the soul.

We see this in verses 10 through 17.

Those who love money will never be satisfied with money, verse 10 says.

It'll never be enough.

You'll always want more.

And then, verses 11 through 12,

Ecclesiastes points out that increasing wealth

actually brings more stress into one's life

so that one is unable to really enjoy it.

When goods increase, they increase who eat them.

In other words, the more wealth you have,

the more time and energy it takes to manage it.

Or as the rappers would say when I was in middle school,

mo' money, mo' problems.

That was biblical.

And the result is that,

the result of all this is that you can see your wealth,

you can see the large amounts of wealth you've accumulated,

but you don't really get to enjoy it.

You have a full stomach,

but your full schedule means you never sleep.

And that's not all.

Verses 13 through 16 remind us that wealth can be quickly lost.

We can build our lives around money.

We can form our identities around wealth and what we possess,

only to find that when it's taken away,

our lives are empty and meaningless.

And even if we die rich,

we take nothing with us.

And so verse 17 concludes that the life lived

for the love of money

leaves the soul in a troubled and lost condition.

All his days he eats in darkness,

in much vexation,

in sickness,

in anger.

Greed corrupts the soul.

It's a sickness

that leaves us in darkness,

vexation,

anger.

So Ecclesiastes shows us the problem with greed.

Greed comes and makes great promises.

Promises is,

I'll make you happy.

I'll make you prosperous.

I'll make you powerful.

Instead,

it leaves us miserable

and broken.

We accumulate more

and more

and more,

but it corrupts

the structures of our society

and it hollows out our soul.

So what's the alternative?

And here's where Ecclesiastes

is perhaps a little surprising.

You might think

that if the love of money

was the problem,

then the alternative would be

to get rid of our possessions,

to renounce everything,

to live an ascetic life

where we reject the material world.

But that's not the true alternative to greed.

The most radical alternative to the love of money

is not an ascetic renunciation of the material world.

The real alternative to greed

is actually contentment.

That's the second main point of our passage.

This is the alternative to greed.

Look again at verses 18 through 20.

Behold,

behold,

what I have seen to be good

and fitting

is to eat

and drink

and find enjoyment

in all the toil

with which one toils

under the sun

the few days of his life

that God has given him,

for this is his lot.

Everyone also

to whom God has given wealth

and possessions

and power

to enjoy them

and to accept his lot

and to rejoice in his toil.

This is the gift of God.

For he will not much remember

the days of his life

because God keeps him occupied

with joy in his heart.

To enjoy what you have,

whether it is a little

or a lot,

in other words,

to find genuine contentment,

that's the alternative to greed.

Greed.

Greed's like a fire

that burns and burns

and no matter how much fuel

you feed it,

it always wants more and more.

And sooner or later,

greed stops caring

where the fuel comes from.

So it turns a blind eye

to injustice,

to oppression,

to exploitation,

to unfair practices,

to the people who are hurt

or who suffer

at the expense

of those who are getting

wealthier and wealthier.

Greed just keeps burning

its destructive dark fire.

But contentment

is not that way.

Contentment is a joy

that spreads over all of life.

It's like a fresh breeze

that can enter the windows

and fill the whole house

with life

and with cool, soothing air.

And the fresh breeze

of contentment

doesn't depend

on the size of the house

or the number of cars

in the driveway

or the number of zeros

in the bank account.

It finds joy

with a little or a lot.

And it finds joy

not just in one's own flourishing,

but in the flourishing

of others.

It's not content

to just amass

all for itself,

but has open hands

to see others

enter into that joy as well.

Contrast the summary statements

of these two alternatives,

greed and contentment,

in verses 17 and verse 20.

I like how the New Living Translation

kind of captures the sense

of each of these texts.

Those captive to greed,

in verse 17,

the New Living Translation says,

they live under a cloud,

frustrated,

discouraged,

and angry.

But for those who know contentment,

verse 20 says,

God keeps such people

so busy enjoying life

that they take no time

to brood over the past.

In fact,

rather than losing themselves

in frustration and anger,

in contentment,

they find themselves.

The Jewish philosopher

Emmanuel Levinas

once wrote,

only in enjoyment

does the eye

crystallize.

Good continental philosopher.

You have no idea

what that means.

I had to read it

like eight times.

In other words,

it means this.

Greed shatters you,

breaks you into

a million pieces.

You're trying to find

your satisfaction

here and there

and here and there

and you just get disilluted.

But the joy of contentment

will give you

an integrated life.

It'll make you whole.

It will give you a center.

Only in enjoyment

does the eye

crystallize.

But this immediately

pushes us to the third

main point of our passage.

We've seen that the alternative

to greed is the joy

of contentment,

but where do we find

the power?

Where do we find

the power

to actually overcome

greed in our hearts

and live in true contentment?

Chapter 6

kind of raises

this question.

He says,

there's an evil

that I've seen

under the sun

and it lies heavy

on mankind,

a man to whom God

gives wealth,

possessions,

and honor

so that he lacks

nothing of all

that he desires

yet God does not

give him power

to enjoy them.

But a stranger

enjoys them.

This is vanity.

It's a grievous evil.

And then Ecclesiastes

does an even deeper

thought experiment.

This isn't just about

losing what you have

to a stranger,

but listen,

he says,

let's say you have

wealth and possessions

and honor

and you have

a giant family

and you live

a long time.

What good is any

of that

if your soul

is not actually

satisfied

with the good

things you have?

And he says

kind of shockingly

in verses 3 and 4,

it's better not

to be born at all

than to live

a long life

and not enjoy

the good things

you've been given.

And for Ecclesiastes,

the greatest problem,

the greatest barrier

to contentment

is the fact

that we're going

to die.

This life will end

and everything

we've accumulated

will not go with us.

So how do we find

satisfaction?

Where does the power

of contentment

come from

in the face

of all that?

Where do we find

a satisfaction

not dependent

on material things

so that we can

actually turn

and enjoy

the created realities

of this life?

You know,

as we turn

to the New Testament

in Philippians

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

the Apostle Paul

says something

very interesting.

He says,

in verse 11

of chapter 4,

Paul found

the secret

of contentment.

He actually

found the power

that extinguished

the dark

insatiable

fire of greed

and unleashed

the life-giving breeze

of contentment

through his soul

and through his life.

What was it?

How did he manage

to find

what the old

Puritan theologian

Jeremiah Burroughs

called

the rare jewel

of contentment?

Well,

Paul's answer

was this.

I can do

all of this

through Jesus Christ

who strengthens me.

Paul's relationship

with Jesus Christ

was the key

that unlocked

the secret

and the power

of contentment.

You see,

back in Ecclesiastes,

Ecclesiastes,

Ecclesiastes actually

did see

ultimately

where contentment

comes from.

He says it again

and again

in chapter 5,

verses 18 through 20.

He says,

this is the gift

of God.

It's only

in relationship

with our Creator

that true contentment

can ever come to us.

You see,

greed is a false god

telling us

to worship money

and possessions

and promising us

happiness

and power

and security.

But the worship

of those created things

has brought

the opposite.

It's actually

alienated us

from our Creator

who's the only source

of life and goodness

and satisfaction.

And only if we're

reconciled to God

will we have

any hope

to genuinely enjoy

God's created gifts.

Apart from God,

we're destined

for darkness

and vexation

and death.

But if we could be

restored to God,

to His love,

to His goodness,

then we could fully

enjoy this world

He's made.

One writer put it

this way,

this connection.

He said,

where the love

of God

is firm,

full enjoyment

of the creation

is possible

and desirable.

He says,

in that place,

one is completely

in the arms of God

and completely

in the world.

But how is our

relationship

with our Creator

restored?

By what power

are we forgiven

of our idolatry

and brought back

into fellowship

with God

and with His good gifts?

And that's what

Ecclesiastes

could not see.

He saw where

it ultimately came from,

but he wasn't

so sure

how to get there.

And that's why

the passage ends

with questions.

Who knows

what's good for man

while he lives

a few days

of his fleeting life

which passes

like a shadow?

Who can tell man

what will be after him

under the sun?

Very honest grappling

for Ecclesiastes,

God is the answer,

but God remains distant.

God is sovereign,

yes.

God is good,

yes.

But the mystery

of how sinful humans

are reconciled to Him

stays veiled.

And so for Ecclesiastes,

the mystery,

the power of contentment

remains hidden.

And that's why

the New Testament

ought to strike us

as such good news.

I've learned

the secret,

Paul says.

But this secret,

it's not like

most secrets

because it's not private

and it's not hidden.

And this secret

isn't something

you have to spend

a bunch of money

to discover.

You don't have to go

find the right guru,

right,

and give them

all your money

and subscribe

to all their YouTube feeds

and all this ridiculous stuff

to learn how to be content.

You don't have to travel

across the world

to find it.

This secret

that Paul's talking about

has been announced

publicly for everyone

to hear.

This good news

is for everyone

and it is heralded

to all creation.

It's heralded

from the Creator Himself.

And this secret

costs nothing

and it comes to you

free of charge.

And the open secret

is this,

that in Jesus Christ,

God,

our ultimate satisfaction,

has come down

and reconciled sinners

to Himself

through His own work,

through His own initiative,

through His own purpose

and plan.

Through Jesus' death

and resurrection,

you see,

the greedy,

the unjust,

the dissatisfied,

those who are grinding away

in vexation and darkness.

Because Jesus Christ

has come,

we can turn away

from our love of money

and created things

and be forgiven.

And we can know

a satisfaction

that the love of money

could never bring.

The satisfaction

of God's grace

in Jesus Christ,

that is what will bring

real contentment

to your heart.

How so?

Because in Jesus Christ,

your enjoyment,

not only of God's gifts,

but of God Himself,

will never end.

You know,

Ecclesiastes is right.

Life under the sun,

that is,

life without reference

to God,

is very fleeting.

It will not last.

And it will end

in darkness forever.

But life with God,

life in fellowship

with God,

that life

is never ending.

The psalmist says

of the Lord,

in your right hand

are pleasures

forevermore.

And you see,

God raised Jesus

from the dead

to conquer sin

and death

so that all

who turn and trust

in Him

might also enjoy

that satisfaction

with God,

that reconciliation

with God

forever.

Those who are in Christ

will be raised

with Him

on the last day.

You see,

Jesus' resurrection

is the first fruits.

It's the promise

of what's to come

for all who've been

united to Him

by faith.

This is why

the apostles

couldn't stop talking

about the resurrection

because it meant

that the veil

of death

and vanity

and emptiness

that had been shrouded

over the world

had been torn.

And torn not just

by some spiritual idea,

right?

The resurrection

ripped the very veil

of death

from creation itself

when Jesus

rose from the dead.

And that's why

Paul can say,

I've learned the secret

of being content

in every circumstance.

It doesn't matter

if I have a lot

or a little.

Paul can say,

rejoice.

I'm going to say it again.

Rejoice.

Because in all circumstances,

Paul knows

that because Jesus

has been risen,

because God is now

His Father,

that He is now adopted

into this family

of the King,

all things are working

for His good

in Jesus Christ.

And if God

has given His own

Son for us,

how will we,

how will God

not also with Jesus

give us

all good things?

Knowing the love

of God in Christ

is more satisfying

than anything

this world could offer.

But more than that,

knowing the love

of God in Christ

means

that this world

is God's gift

to us

to enjoy

with contentment.

Ecclesiastes

will say it over

and over again,

work,

eat,

drink,

and give praise

to God

for His good gifts.

Being reconciled

to our Creator,

now we're finally

in a right relationship

with the creation.

So you see,

friends,

it's the gospel

that dries up

greed

at the roots.

The gospel

is the power

that brings

lasting contentment

in God.

As children of God,

we know that ultimately

all things are ours

in Christ.

All our labors

are not in vain

because He's risen.

So as we wrap up then,

let me just ask,

do you know

this power?

The power

of Jesus Christ

to make you content

and joyful

in all circumstances.

You see,

His

is a treasure

that never fades.

It's an inheritance

that can't be taken away.

The love of money

will always disappoint you.

The love of money

will corrupt our world

and corrupt your soul,

but the love of Christ

will never

let you down.

And for those of us

who are Christians,

are we walking,

are we living

in the power

of this contentment?

Do our lives

demonstrate this joy

that is the gift of God

secured for us

in Jesus Christ?

Is our life

marked

by the kind of simplicity

that that brings?

the kind of generosity

that comes

from knowing

the resurrected Christ

and sharing

His resurrection power.

The kind of mindset

that Paul talks about

earlier in Philippians

where we don't

consider ourselves

better than others,

but we consider others

better than ourselves

and we live to serve others.

All things are yours in Him.

One day you'll see Him

face to face

and you'll reign

over a renewed creation.

And the songs of joy

will know no end.

And that resurrection joy,

that contentment

is ours even now

and ought to be

permeating our lives.

You see,

because your future is secure,

you

can live in the present

with joy and contentment

in all God's gifts to you,

whether they're big or small.

eat,

drink,

and find enjoyment

in all the work

God gives you to do.

of greed,

by the resurrection power

of Jesus Christ.

God, and for those

who have not yet come

to place their trust in Christ,

Lord, help them to see

that the freedom

and the joy

that He offers

is like nothing else.

That free of charge,

today,

they can be reconciled

to their Creator

and enjoy His good gifts

and most of all,

the good gift of Himself,

of you, God,

the good gift of you.

Lord, grant saving faith.

today.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.