Is the Grass Really Greener on the Other Side? - DJ Dickerson

We've all heard the phrase,

"The grass is always greater on the

other side." We may have used that at

some point or another in our lives. Now,

that phrase sounds harmless,

but I believe it reveals something

deeply spiritual

because it exposes the human tendency

to believe that somewhere else

holds what God has not provided here.

And that's where the illusion of greener

grass comes in.

Maybe we have said these words.

If I had a different job,

if I lived in a different place,

uh if my marriage were different,

if my circumstances

would change,

then I would finally be content.

Now, I will submit to you that that

mindset, that illusion of greener grass

is not a new thing.

A man by the name of Solomon wrestled

with this very issue thousands of years

ago. And in fact, the entire book of

Ecclesiastes is Solomon standing at the

fence line of life, okay? and looking

across every possible field.

And we could list some of those uh like

pleasure, wealth, wisdom, power, and

asking is any of this better?

And he opens with words that that shake

us, that kind of jolt us. And I want you

to look at Ecclesiastes 1 and verses 1

and two to start us off here.

Ecclesiastes 1:es 1 and two.

The words of the preacher, the son of

David, king of Jerusalem, vanity of

vanities, says the preacher, vanity of

vanities, all is vanity.

Now the word vanity derives from the

Hebrew term habel which translates

vanity or vain referring concretely to a

mist vapor or mere breath and

metaphorically to something that is

fleeting or elusive.

This word appears five times in this

verse and another 29 other verses in

Ecclesiastes. You see Solomon repeat

these constantly. Vanity, vanity.

And what Solomon is saying, everything

pursued apart from God disappears when

you try to hold it.

So for this morning, we ask Solomon's

question in modern language.

Is the grass

really greener on the other side?

Ecclesiastes chapter 1. I want us to go

Ecclesiastes 1 · chapter mention

there if you're not already there.

Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and we're going

Ecclesiastes 1 · chapter mention

to look at verses 8 through 14.

in regards to the eye

that is never satisfied.

Ecclesiastes chapter 1, beginning in

Ecclesiastes 1 · chapter mention

verse 8,

let's read on down.

All things are full of labor.

Man cannot express it. The eye is not

satisfied with seeing, nor the ear

filled with hearing. That which has been

is what will be. That which is done is

what will be done, and there is nothing

new under the sun.

Is there anything of which it may be

said? See, this is new. It has already

been in ancient times before us. There

is no remembrance of former things, nor

will there be any remembrance of things

that are to come by those who will come

after. I the preacher was king over

Israel and Jerusalem. And I set my heart

to seek and search out by wisdom

concerning all that is done under heaven

this burdensome task God has given to

the sons of man by which they may be

exercised. I have seen all the works

that are done under the sun, and indeed

all is vanity and grasping for wind.

You notice that Solomon begins

by describing

human relentlessness

or restlessness rather.

They're relentless in that that the eye

is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear

filled with hearing.

And the point that he's making there and

and we're thinking and considering today

is we are never done wanting. I mean,

can we agree with that? We're never done

wanting. Okay. Uh we we use terms like

this. We scroll.

Uh we compare. Uh we upgrade. Uh we we

chase.

I mean, have you ever bought something

that you were excited about only to lose

interest weeks later? I mean,

everybody's going, "Yeah, yeah, that's

me." It's called We find that, you know,

you find that now. Your junk drawer

and everybody has one, but you might

have two. We have two. I mean, let's

just be honest. I mean, I might might as

well. We might have three. I'm not sure.

But everybody has at least one of those.

Okay.

But the point that I make with that,

especially with kids,

you know, a new vehicle becomes just the

car.

A promotion becomes just work.

How about a new phone? Does it become

outdated? Yep.

So Solomon tried everything.

Excuse me.

He tried pleasure, projects,

possessions,

prestige. All of those you find

throughout chapter 2. Chapter 2 talks a

lot about those things.

And after it all, this is what he said

in verse 11.

Then I looked on all the works that my

hands had done and on the labor in which

I had told, and indeed all was vanity

and grasping for the wind. There was no

prophet under the sun.

Here's a truth.

Distance creates illusion. You ever

think of it like that? Distance creates

illusion.

Uh

from afar,

another person's life looks perfect.

But up close,

every field has its weeds.

Every family has struggles.

Every marriage has hard seasons.

And every career has pressure, right?

Now, that's one thing I think about

social media. See, social media shows

highlights, don't they? They show

highlights. They don't show hospital

rooms.

The grass doesn't grow greener because

you cross the fence.

It grows greener where it's watered.

Now, I want you to follow through this

with me in our study of Ecclesiastes.

And I'm not giving you a whole we're not

going to go through each and every

chapter, but I'm going to try to get the

highlights, if you will, of it. So, what

he goes on in in Ecclesiastes chapter 4

Ecclesiastes 4 · chapter mention

is something we mention even uh this

morning about comparison. Comparison and

how comparison can certainly steal

contentment.

Ecclesiastes 4 and verse4 Solomon

observes something profound.

He said, "I considered

again, I saw that for all toll and

every skillful work a man is envied by

his neighbor.

This also is vanity and grasping for the

wind."

In other words, much of what drives us

is comparison.

We don't want, you know, we don't just

want improvement. We want advantage.

Now, if you think about how really I got

to see this, especially when you have a

second child, you really get to see

this. Uh I was the second child uh

growing up. So, this is kind of how it

plays out.

or when you get two children together

for that matter, they can be perfectly

happy

or content until one sees what the other

has. Right? That changes real quick.

Real quick,

suddenly the toy that they had, it's

just not good enough.

And really, when you think about it,

adults are no different, are we? We're

not different.

Because this is where we start. Well,

we're going to compare houses. We're

going to compare incomes, vacations,

families, and I I mean, the list could

go on and on for that matter. But what

we see with just these is that

comparison quietly

steals joy. It steals that contentment.

Solomon later on writes in chapter 5,

you flip over chapter 5 and you look at

verse 10. Look what he says. He who

loves silver will not be satisfied with

silver, nor he who loves abundance with

increase. This also is vanity.

So what he's saying is no amount is ever

enough.

And really this again, you connect a lot

of these to these other scriptures like

Proverbs has a lot to say. Proverbs 14

and verse 30, a sound heart is life to

the body, but envy is rottness to the

bones.

So what comparison does, it corrods

from the inside. It makes blessings feel

small. And and the devil doesn't need to

remove what God gave you. He just needs

to convince you someone else got more.

And that's that wandering eye type

stuff.

And that causes some problems. It causes

problems. I mean, we have a lot of

accounts in the Bible that speaks to

exactly what we're talking about today.

And I have talked with people who are on

this very level here of asking that

question or even saying that statement,

the grass is greener on the other side.

And come to find out later on, you know

what? They come back to say

it wasn't. That grass had weeds, too.

It's interesting that Ecclesiastes, such

great wisdom that's here.

Look at this next one I want to share

with you.

Chasing costs more peace.

And now later on in chapter 5 of

Ecclesiastes, Solomon goes into this

again. You go to chapter 5.

Look at verse 10 again that we just

noted. He who loves silver will not be

satisfied with silver, nor he who loves

abundance with increase. This also is

vanity. When good incre when goods

increase, they increase who eat them. So

what profit have the owners except to

see them with their eyes? The sleep of

our laboring man is sweet whether he

eats little or much, but the abundance

of the rich will not permit him to

sleep.

So what Solomon's warning here is

abundance of the rich will not permit

him to sleep.

Kind of goes back to that more money

often means more stress, more

responsibility, more anxiety. I mean,

you know, a lot of times we we use that

example of just looking at Hollywood and

all those that have lots and lots of

money, but has it cost them some peace?

Has it cost them a lot? Yes, absolutely.

How often have I I've noticed people and

talked with people who who leave

faithful spouses chasing excitement.

Uh some abandon congregations because

they are chasing novelty. Uh some

sacrifice integrity as they chase

promotions to see how that works.

All because they believe that grass is

greener on the other side. But yet Jesus

warned of this same exact issue in Luke

12 and verse 15. Look at Luke 12 and

verse 15. As I like to remind from time

to time is always proved according to

God's word, not DJs. Luke 12:15. And he

Luke 12:15

said, Jesus said to them, "Take heed and

beware of covetousness, for one's life

does not consist in the abundance of the

things he possesses." You see, it all

goes right back to those warnings that

that even Solomon is trying to give us

because Solomon saw people gain the

world and lose rest.

I mean, look at what he was recognizing

from his own life and all those pursuits

and that quest for happiness that he was

on.

Jesus would go on and say in Mark 8

and:es 36 and 37, for what will it

profit a man if he gains the whole world

and loses his own soul? Or or what will

a man give in exchange for his soul?

And something I I was thinking about and

looking at many of these verses and

preparing this lesson for this morning

is basically really what Solomon and

Jesus and all the Bible tells us is that

we can certainly upgrade our lifestyle

but at the same time downgrade our

spirit.

We can upgrade our lifestyle but at the

same time downgrade our spirit.

Again, what it cost? What does it cost

ultimately?

Well, let me submit to you that and what

we're seeing in these passages is that

God never promised greener grass. You

don't find that in the scriptures, okay?

That's that's not there. But he did

promise daily bread. That's what he

promised. I want you to notice, you go

back to Ecclesiastes and look at chapter

3 and look at verses 12 and 13.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verses 12 and

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

13. He says,"I know that nothing is

better for me for them than to rejoice

and to do good in their lives and also

that every man should eat and drink and

enjoy the good of all his labor. It is

the gift of God."

Now, that's really the kind of a simple

truth that Solomon lands on right there

in chapter three. uh he's not talking

about excess or luxuries or anything.

He's talking about contentment. And

that's again a huge lesson that even not

just Jesus was teaching about but also

as our scripture reading we'll mention

here in just a moment again from 1

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

Timothy chapter 6 and what Paul was

telling young Timothy

and that even in Jesus when his in the

model prayer as we think about what he

said in Matthew 6 vers 11 give us this

day our daily bread. you know, thinking

about uh later on in chapter six, what

Jesus goes on to talk about worry and

the the issues of of thinking about

tomorrow and all of the the the

dwellings and and all of all of that.

Um,

and really it's it's a a great text, a

classic text on worry in the latter part

of Matthew chapter 6. But again, it's a

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

lot of times about what our focus is,

what our aim is. Uh, and what he's

saying here is, you know, not weekly and

not yearly, but daily. Look what God is

doing. He supplies what we need for

today.

You know, it was not too long ago we

were studying about how the Israelites

gathered mana one day at a time. Um, and

you might remember that there was a

problem that came along if they didn't

do it according to the way that God

commanded them. It's a very powerful

illustration. I believe that they if

they tried to store that mana, what

happened to it? It spoiled, didn't it?

And the wonderful and timely message

that is that God was teaching them

dependence.

one day at a time.

Something interesting Paul also talks

about this in chapter 4 and verse 11.

Not that I speak in regard to need, for

I have learned in whatever state I am to

be content. And Paul had found himself

in a lot of different types of states uh

for that matter. But what he's saying

there

is thinking about dependence and

thinking about all those words here this

morning is contentment is learned.

That's a learned thing. It it grows

through gratitude.

It matures through trust.

And that's what the scriptures teach us.

It teaches us all along, trust in the

Lord your God with all your heart.

Right? Lean not to your own

understanding.

That's Proverbs chapter 3, isn't it?

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

See, that's all throughout the

scriptures. All throughout the

scriptures.

Because really, when you get down to it

is that the only side that matters is

God's side. really

because

Ecclesiastes chapter 12 has always been

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

two verses at the very end that has

always, you know, I I remember and you

may remember this when you first read

the book of Ecclesiastes.

And there's so many golden nuggets

throughout Ecclesiastes that you can

certainly preach on and teach on and and

dwell on. Uh but especially when you get

down there to the end, it's he after

he's ventured through all of these

things, right?

And this is what he comes to. Let us

hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments for

this is man's all. For God will bring

every work into judgment, including

every secret thing, whether good or

evil.

Think about this. After chasing every

field,

this is his conclusion.

After wealth, after pleasure, after

wisdom, and this is the answer.

And what he's saying is life only works

when God is central because everything

else is temporary.

And what did in our our scripture

reading this morning? What what did we

see in 1 Timothy chapter 6? Look at

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

verses 6 and 7 again. Now godliness with

contentment is what? Great gain. Look at

verse seven. That one brings it home,

doesn't it? For we brought nothing into

this world and is certain we can carry

nothing out.

Wow.

Do you know what we can carry with us?

The only thing that we will carry with

us is our souls obviously.

But what we carry with us is our

faithfulness.

We carry our obedience

because again that's what Ecclesiastes

12 is aiming at

that we can store treasure in heaven.

And that's why Jesus made that

abundantly clear in Matthew 6 and 19- 21

when Jesus says, "Do not lay up for

yourselves treasures on earth where moth

and rust destroy 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.

I think it's a timely message. It's one

that I certainly always need reminding

of that all of us need reminding of

that. I leave you with this simply. The

grass is not greener on the other side.

I know it looks like that, but that's

why I started out with the illusion of

greener grass.

But friends, the point that I hope that

you take away from this lesson with all

these scriptures that we've considered

briefly this morning is the grass is

greener where it's watered,

where it's tended.

Marriages grow greener with forgiveness.

Families grow greener with prayer. Faith

grows greener with scripture.

Churches grow greener with ser service.

You see, and you could add so many other

things there, too, can't you?

If you're always looking over the fence,

think about that. That's why I I I use

this image. If you're always looking

over the fence,

you'll neglect the soil beneath your own

feet.

And friends, that's what we tend to do

all the time. We're always looking for

greener pastures.

And what we've done is we've neglected

the soil under our own feet.

Solomon tried every pasture. He tried

it.

And what did he plainly tell us in a

simple lesson this morning?

Everything without God is empty.

So instead of asking the question,

what's on the other side,

we have to ask the question, am I

faithful on this side? Am I faithful on

this side?

Because the greatest blessing is not a

better field,

not a better pasture.

It is walking with God exactly where you

are.

Amen. And amen.

Friends, I appreciate so much your kind

attention this morning in this lesson

that

I was dwelling upon. And I again, as

I've said many times, it's really hard

as a as a preacher as to decide, you

know, which sermon you're going to

preach. This is kind of those preacher

discussions that preachers get together

and like, what are you preaching on

Sunday? And we're like, maybe they'll

give me an idea. So that kind of thing.

Um

it is difficult to figure out what

you're going to preach the next Sunday

morning and evening services

especially following a series when you

have kind of things plotted out.

But I thought this would be a good

message for reminding

and having food and clothing. With these

we shall be content. But those who

desire to be rich fall in temptation and

snare and in many foolish and harmful

lust which drown men in destruction and

predition. And verse 10 of 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 continues, "For the love of

money is a root of all kinds of evil for

which some have strayed from the faith

in their greediness and pierced

themselves through

with many sorrows.

As you think about your life right now

and expectly as we understand our life

is certainly as James says it's a vapor

that appears for a short time and then

vanishes away. It puts things in

perspective about what we're doing with

the soil that's underneath our feet

right now. What's the soil that's in our

hearts? What are we doing with it? I

hope that we are tending to it and that

we're watering it. that we are doing

exactly as God would have us because God

will certainly give the increase as we

do exactly as he desires and that we

hold on to him and we trust him and we

depend on him as we have seen from the

scriptures. So friends, I hope that we

look at our lives and we say that we

certainly are tending to those things

that need to be tended to uh according

to his word. But it may be this very

morning that there's something a miss in

your life. And one of those things that

may be a miss is that you haven't put on

the body of Christ at baptism. And you

can do that as the scriptures make

abundantly clear. Need to know we've

studied in the book of Acts so far from

our Acts 1 all the way to Acts chapter

Acts 9 · chapter mention

9. So far we've studied about those who

have put on the body of Christ in

baptism. Recently Saul of Tarsus who was

told to arise, be baptized and wash away

his sins, calling on the name of the

Lord. And you can certainly do that.

repenting of your sins, confessing

Jesus, be subtle in God and being

baptized, buried with him, to rise and

walk in newness of life as Romans 6 and

verses three and four says to remain

faithful and tend to that very field

that we have that treasure that God has

given us and we buy that entire field

and we take care of it uh for his glory

and his praise and his honor and we help

each other along the way. As disciples

of Christ, if there's something missing

your life right now, maybe you've been

looking for greener pastures, greener

the greener grass that we certainly have

noted already from Ecclesiastes and

Jesus himself and Paul.

It needs to be tended to right with the

soil that's under our feet. And we can

certainly do that by watering the seed

that the word of God gives us. And

again, God will give the increase. And

friends, there's that fountain free that

we're going to be singing about. and

whatever your spiritual need this

morning, won't you come as we stand and

we sing the song that's been selected