Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 • The Secret to the Good Life

All right. What's up, everybody? You guys are

feeling good this morning? Yeah? Okay. Good.

Good. Now, let me start with a little crowd involvement

before we get into our message. And let me ask

you a question. So, who in here would like just

a little bit more of the good life? Oh, come

on, guys. Don't worry. It's not a tricky question.

You will not have to meet the pastor after the

sermon. It's just a simple question. Who wants

to have a little bit more of the good life? Yeah,

that's right. We all do. Yeah, that's what we

are all chasing for. Everyone. Whether that's,

you know, financial stability, financial freedom,

the perfect family or successful career, whatever

it is, most of us are working and praying for

some version of the good life. I might not be

the same for everyone, but most of us pray for

a version of the good life. and personally if

you ask me you know if i could live in a japanese

village with internet connection and you know

endless sunshine uh i would be i would be happy

that would be the the little slice of heaven

for me but here's the thing you know we are convinced

that more more money more stuff more status will

bring contentment we believe that gain is the

path to happiness. But what if that path leads

to a dead end? What if all the striving leads

not to satisfaction, but actually to emptiness?

And as the Star Wars fans among you might know

the famous words of Admiral Akbar, it's a trap,

because it is a trap. And today we'll see that

in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, we're going to read

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

from verse 8 to 20, King Solomon, or the preacher,

delivers a brutally honest challenge to his to

this assumption and his radical conclusion at

the end is that gratitude not gain is the key

to the good life now that's the liberating truth

i pray that we will see today that wealth cannot

give you true security or joy only god can do

that and the good life is not found in getting

more but is gratefully enjoying what God has

already given you. And can we just admit how

timely this all is? Between all the tariffs,

all the instability in the US, economic uncertainty,

and financial experts don't really know where

we are headed, how the world is looking, the

security that many people assume that we had

is kind of being exposed as an illusion. And

if your heart is anxious right now, here it is.

I don't have any predictions. I don't have any

stock market predictions for you. But I do know

a person who can help. And his name is Jesus.

Now, as we open God's Word, we will see four

truths that support this big idea. First, when

justice is not enough. Second, the insatiable

trap. Now let's begin with the very first one.

And we'll start in verse 8, we'll read from the

Bible. And just a little heads up, I will use

NLT. It's a little, well maybe not a little,

but more simple translation than the traditional

ones like NIV or the New King James. But I like

this and I wanted to bring this translation today

because the main idea is what we are interested

in here. If you want the more poetic or traditional

version, you can read it at home later if you

wish to. But let's start in verse 8. So Ecclesiastes

5 at verse 8, it says, Don't be surprised if

you see a poor person being oppressed by the

powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout

the land. So the preacher opens with a stark

universal truth. Injustice and corruption are

systematic and pervasive under the sun. You know,

he tells us, don't be surprised, guys. This is

my news. This has been happening for thousands

and thousands of years. And this is really a

profound realism because it reveals the fundamental

brokenness of human systems. And this sets the

stage to why gain within such systems can never

be truly satisfying or secure. Having more does

not fix the deepest problems. And he describes

a kind of a... hierarchical chain where every

official is under orders from higher up. So this

is not just about isolated acts that are happening

in society, you know, here and there. It's a

built -in flaw where power can be abused and

will be abused. And you know, decisions, they

will filter down, impacting the vulnerable at

the end. Justice, which is so important and vital

for the well -being of society, and communities

it gets lost in red tape and bureaucracy i mean

just think about it when you first time arrived

in hungary all the paperwork that you had to

do all the stuff that you had to do to get your

residency permit your visa whatever you know

so besides that there's the other um how would

i say sad reality which some of you are actually

experiencing today you know healthcare Health

care is one of those things where insurance companies

and health care providers, they just seem to

take advantage of people's situation, their illnesses,

their vulnerable position. And at the end of

the day, when you get to a health care provider

or an insurance company, you are just buried

under paperwork, legal delays, and a system that

seems designed to protect the powerful and not

the vulnerable. And I think we have been all

entangled and exhausted by this red tape where

fairness becomes a casualty. It hurts and it's

infuriating. And Solomon says, it's not just

at the Kormányo block or at the Kennedy or wherever

you go to do administration. This goes all the

way to the top. Even the king makes the land

for his own profit. The CEO, the guy who meant

to be the protector, actively exploits his people

for personal gain. You can follow this pretty

actively in a lot of our politicians here in

Europe, on the right and the left, doesn't matter

where they are. They get paid decent salaries,

and yet by the end of their term in office, their

net worth increases by the hundreds of thousands

of euros. That math does not really add up for

me. That math does not really compute for me.

Yes, it's a systematic problem. But Solomons

is not just pointing fingers at the system. He

is exposing the human heart behind these systems.

Because when gain becomes the goal, personally

or institutionally, it corrupts. everything the

system is not broken because it's inefficient

we have to remember that it's broken because

we are broken so why would we expect climbing

higher in this ladder to lead to satisfaction

you know this ancient observation that salomon

is making here many many thousand years ago powerfully

resonates today because we see this pattern of

exploitation for gain, you know, in corporate

greed, political corruption, bureaucratic obstacles.

We feel the weight of systematic brokenness,

and it's easy to feel jaded by power misused

for gain. So our hope is not in reforming broken

systems, as many believe. You can try that, and

many have tried that, with some success, but

most of the times with failures. Our hope is

aligning ourselves with the kingdom of God, where

gratitude for his grace replaces the pursuit

of gain as the driving force. Jesus told us all,

seek my kingdom above all else, and all these

things will be added unto you. The Lord said

it, and I hope that it will happen here and in

us as well. So, We've seen how broken systems

can never really deliver true peace. But maybe

you're thinking, okay, fine, the system is messed

up, but if I just work hard and get my slice

of the pie, you know, maybe that will bring me

satisfaction. But Solomon would say, it's a trap,

which leads us to point two. So from verse 10

to 12, he says, Those who love money will never

have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth

brings true happiness. The more you have, the

more people come to help you spend it. So what

good is wealth, except perhaps to watch it slip

through your fingers? People who work hard sleep

well, whether they eat little or much, but the

rich seldom get a good night's sleep. Now, from

broken systems, the preacher now turns to the

illusion of personal wealth, money. And he starts

with a hard truth. Those who love money will

never have enough. Now this, he's not just making

an observation, it's a diagnosis. He's making

a diagnosis here. He says that this is an addiction.

The more you get, the more you want. There is

no finish line. And the pursuit of gain becomes

an endless loop. You know, you get into the loop

and you keep going and you keep going. As the

little hamster, they get into the little wheel

and it's so hard to get out without maybe broken

a limb or something. Although those guys know

how to stop. Not like us. So Solomon calls it

meaningless. Not because money is evil. That's

important, guys. Not because being rich... having

money, having wealth is evil, but because it

can never give you what you are really after.

It cannot produce gratitude. It cannot satisfy

your soul. And then, after seeing all of this,

he drops a paradox. He says, the more you have,

and I think this is pretty funny, he says, the

more people come to help you spend it. Now, wealth,

you know, many times and often brings complications,

not freedom. Bigger house, more maintenance,

more taxes, more business, more stuff, more overhead,

more stress. It feels like it's actually slipping

through your fingers. You know, we tell ourselves

that if we gain more, if we make more money,

if we become more rich, life will become more

simple. right that's what people believe but

often it does the opposite it creates new burdens

and anxieties and you don't own your stuff your

stuff starts owning you and then comes this zinger

he says people who work hard sleep well but the

rich seldom get a good night's sleep and you

know we imagine that The wealthy are carefree

and comfortable. They go to bed. They don't have

any care in the world. They don't have to work

in their garden. They have a gardener. They don't

have to prepare food. They have their own personal

chef and all of that. But Solomon flips the idea.

He says that a person who labors, a person who

is working and lives simply, can rest deeply.

They can sleep like a baby. The one who is constantly

managing wealth protecting it, growing it, you

know, he loses sleep. Worry and restlessness

are the price of gain. Now this passage really

pushes us to examine our assumptions. Are you

caught in the chase for the next thing? Are you

convinced that just a little bit more will bring

peace? Have you reached one financial milestone

only to find yourself immediately reaching for

another? That's the bucket with no bottom problem.

You pour and pour, but it never feels full. And

you know, Solomon is not condemning wealth. Again,

I have to reiterate that. But the love of it.

If your security depends on your account balance,

what happens when it shrinks? The more you center

your life around gain, the more elusive peace

becomes. And Jesus knew this well. He warned

you cannot serve both God and money. You know,

he told the parable of the rich fool who built

bigger barns but died before he could enjoy any

of it. And his mistake was not wealth, it was

not money. He was trusting in gain instead of

being rich toward God. So the gospel gives us

a totally different version. Jesus, who was though

rich, became poor so that we might become rich

in him. And he does not offer worldly gain. He

offers himself. And with him comes peace that

no money can buy. Rest that no hustle. can give,

and joy that is not tied into your circumstances.

So your real treasure is not in your portfolio

or in your bank account. It's in Christ. It's

eternal. It's unshakable. And when your heart

starts to shift from chasing gain to thanking

God for his grace, the grip of greed loosens.

And joy becomes possible. So, if you have been

on the treadmill of more, you know, running hard,

chasing peace through possessions, here's Solomon's

advice. It's a trap. A well -decorated one, yes,

but a trap all the same. And Solomon, he's not

done yet. If chasing more is a trap, he says

that hoarding it does not help either right what

happens when you finally get the wealth that

you were chasing what do you do with it store

it save it build your security on it he's about

to show us that gain not only fails to satisfy

it can actually hurt us even when we try to hold

on to it so check it out in verse 13 he says

There is another serious problem I have seen

under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver.

So you may be able to resist the urge to spend

it all, you know, but Solomon says even hoarding

it can be harmful. So how? How can it become

harmful? Well, first, it can rot your relationships.

You know, when you're afraid of someone, might

want your money or your wealth or your possessions,

it becomes hard to trust people. And then also

it can rot your wealth, sorry, your health. You

know, always protecting what you have can really

keep you in a low, great state of anxiety. And

then it can rot your soul. You start to believe

that your security is in what you've said rather

than the one who saved you. And in verse 14,

he continues. Money is put into risky investments

that turn sour and everything is lost. In the

end, there is nothing left to pass on to one's

children. Now he's saying you can make all the

right moves and still lose it. The market can

crash. The company can go under. The house can

catch a fire. There are no guarantees. And even

if you manage to hold on to it until death, guess

what? You still lose it. Verse 15 says, we all

come to the end of our lives as naked and empty

-handed as on the day we were born. We can't

take our riches with us. So this verse, this

is not just a funeral verse. That's a worldview

check. You can't take it with you. So why live

like you can? And in verse 16 he adds, and this

too is a very serious problem. People leave this

world no better off than when they came. All

their hard work is for nothing, like working

for the wind. So Solomon is saying, you did not

just lose your stuff, you lost your life while

working for it. You gave your best years, your

mental and emotional energy, your sleep and sanity,

and in the end, you have nothing to show for

it. And here's the hunting conclusion in verse

17. Throughout their lives, they live under a

cloud, frustrated, discouraged, and angry. So

this is what a gain -based life looks like. gets

you. A cloud of frustration, discouragement because

it's never enough, anger because the math never

adds up, and you worked and waited your whole

life, but by the time you felt like you could

enjoy and you could rest, the joy was already

gone. So, what do we do with this? Well, whether

you never had the wealth, whether you lost it,

or even if you held on to it, Solomon says it

still won't give you what you are looking for.

The pursuit of more does not work. The protection

of what you have does not work. The possessions

of great wealth does not work. And if we are

being honest, we know it. That's why we are so

exhausted. That's why we wake up anxious. While

we keep shifting jobs, houses, styles, and life

goals, maybe even degrees, hoping to the next

thing that we'll finally settle it. We're not

just trying to find the good life. We're trying

to find something we can trust. Something that

will not slip through our fingers. So, here's

the turning point. What if Solomon's goal is

not to depress us, and I hope you are not depressed

until this point, but to free us. What if his

whole point is this? If gain is your goal, life

will never be good. But if gratitude is your

posture, life becomes a gift, which leads us

to our final section. After all the hard truths

and heartbreaks Solomon has uncovered, listen

to where he lands in verse 18. He says, For this

is their lot. In other words, enjoy what you've

been given. Not what you are chasing, not what

you are clinging to. Just receive what's in front

of you as a gift. He goes on, Moreover, when

God gives someone wealth and possessions and

the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot

and be happy in their toil, this is a gift of

God. It's a gift. Gratitude, not gain, is the

key to the good life. And did you catch who gives

it? God is not trying to take joy from you. He's

trying to give it to you. But the only way to

receive it is to stop grabbing for more and start

recognizing what's already in your hands. And,

you know, here's the irony. When life is all

about gain, you cannot enjoy it. But when life

becomes about gratitude, even the smallest things

become joy. A meme. A moment with a friend. A

quiet Saturday. The simplest satisfaction of

a job well done. It all becomes sacred. Because

it's all a gift. And the promise of this God

-centered enjoyment is this. God keeps such people

so busy enjoying life that they take no time

to brood over the past. And that is freedom.

And that is rest. And that is joy. But don't

misunderstand things here. It does not come to

us free from struggle. Okay? I know we all love

Psalm 23 and the truth that God is our good shepherd

who walks us beside streams. But the vast majority

of the metaphors found in the scriptures in this

passage or in this chapter are ones of a battlefield,

not of a paradise pasture. So... we would be

naive to think that all of this enjoyment of

life, here in this love story, set in a world

that happened in a love story, but they are actually

set in a world at war, and you think that this

would come without fear or struggle. It won't.

And so, let me say, delicately, because I know

some of you are going through it in various ways

right now, for some of you, your current lot

in life is painful. And Scripture actually never

asks you to ignore that pain. In fact, just the

opposite. God invites you to lament your grief,

your honesty, your tears. But lament is not the

end. Gratitude is. And not a fake forced smile,

but a real gospel -rooted joy that says, Even

here, even now, God is good. This too is a gift.

James says, in James 1 -2, Consider it pure joy,

my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials

of many kinds. You know, there's no magic switch

to move from a grumpy to grateful. But there

is a Savior who makes that shift possible. So,

yes. Pour out your heart. Pour out your heart

for him. But don't just stop there. Pour it out

to Jesus and let him pour in his peace and give

you purpose. And when your faith is tested, your

endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow,

for when your endurance is fully developed, you

will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

So this is the promise of Christ, friends. He

took on poverty and death so you could receive

joy and life. And not someday. Today. This day.

That's the good life, found not in gain, but

in grace and gratitude. Jesus is the only one

who perfectly embodied the life Solomon describes.

He lived with joy. received each moment as a

gift, and trusted his Father fully. He did not

chase gain. He gave it up. He did not hoard.

He emptied himself. He didn't cling. He surrendered

in love. And he did it all for us. On the cross,

Jesus took all our striving, hoarding, and empty

pursuits and paid for them. Then he rose. to

offer something far better, abundant life in

Him. Not the life the world sells you, not a

life built on status or stuff, but a life rooted

in peace, joy, and the deep assurance that you

are loved, forgiven, and held by a God who provides.

That is the good life. So, let me leave you with

this. If you're looking for joy, stop looking

at your bank account. If you're looking for peace,

stop refreshing ingotland .com. And if you're

looking for meaning, stop measuring your productivity.

Look instead to Jesus, the author and perfecter

of your faith, and receive what's in front of

you as a gift. Live with joy, not because what

you have gained. but because you've been given

everything in him. Let's pray for that. Heavenly

Father, we thank you so much for all the gifts

that we have in our lives. Thank you, Lord, because

whatever we have, the things, the blessings,

the opportunities, our health, everything that

we have is truly a gift from you. We deserve

nothing, Lord. But you give all of this because

of your grace. And Jesus, we want to be grateful.

We ask you, Holy Spirit, that you would help

us to have more gratitude in our hearts. We ask

you, Holy Spirit, that you would show us when

we are ungrateful and when maybe we are grumpy.

We ask you, Jesus, that you would help us to

be grateful for every moment, for every gift,

for every opportunity. You don't want to stand

before you one day and when you tell us that

you've given us all these things and we've been

ungrateful. Instead, we want to be grateful and

use what you have given us to help people, to

advance your kingdom, and to live life with joy

and peace. Lord, that is my prayer for this church

and for my brothers and sisters. that you would

help us to truly enjoy life to the fullest with

the things that you have given us, and not to

be anxious of trying to get more and have more,

but to just enjoy the things that you've given

us at this point already. So, Jesus, we want

to cling on to your promise when you said that

you have come to give us life, an abundant life

in you. Thank you, Lord, that you have redeemed

our bodies, our spirits, our souls. Even the

things around us, this whole world, because of

you, we can enjoy through you.