Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:9

intro

I am a big fan of hiking. I’ve been hiking in a lot of different places, and I have experienced many different hikes.

There was one time where I went hiking in Zion National Park in Utah, and it was the hike of a lifetime. It took 14 hours, a lot of rappelling, swimming through ravines, and hiking along dangerous cliff faces. It was one of those hikes that I was not prepared for but just decided to do on a whim as a college student. That hike was incredibly difficult and at times very scary, but there came a point in that hike where we were rewarded with just a ridiculous view of the National Park; there was no way to see what we saw unless you put in all that work.

The passage that we are looking at tonight can be viewed like a hike on a mountain, and it was designed that way by the preacher. We have something special here that occurs sometimes in the Wisdom Literature of the Bible and its called a Chiasm.

A Chiasm is like hiking a mountain: On either side you have a journey that is intended to take you up to the peak. You can think about this passage in that sense: the front 40% and the back 40% are symmetrical and are intended to lead you towards the peak: the middle 20%.

Wealth Cannot Satisfy

State:

Wealth Cannot Satisfy

English Standard Version Chapter 5

8 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. 9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 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.

First: When you see poor people all over the place, don’t be surprised. When you see that they are being oppressed and kept in poverty because of the schemes of the rich, don’t be surprised. There is an intricate hierarchy of government officials, many of whom are committed to lining their own pockets rather than the wellbeing of their people.

But it is a wonderful thing to live in a land that has a ruler who is committed to prosperity. It isn’t hard to see why this is the case: a president that desires to see our economy flourish is much more desirable than one who would want to see it tanking, or just has no idea what to do in economic matters. We want to have a leader who is committed to cultivated fields, don’t we?

And we have found ourselves living in a nation that has historically had leaders committed to cultivated fields. Though it has certainly been up and down, America has consistently been one of the top nations in the world when it comes to quality of life for its citizens. We have been able to reap the benefit of that in many ways.

But we must be careful, because cultivated fields can lead us to a very dangerous place; and protecting us against going to that dangerous place is the main purpose of this passage.

The dangerous place is the one where we begin to search for satisfaction in wealth.

Of all the sinful ways to seek satisfaction, a pursuit of wealth is the one that our culture views as most admirable. When you think about what we view as “success stories,” they most often deal with someone who ended up with riches. We see that they have a hoard of stuff or money, and we automatically assume that they are “successful” or even fulfilled.

The Preacher here is very clear: no amount of wealth can satisfy us. (verse 10)

reason one: when we get rich, we tend to be surrounded by people who take advantage of our riches.

reason two: great wealth is often accompanied by sleepless nights.

The other side of this mountain of meaning continues to push the same point.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. 8 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? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

We work to hoard and to gain and to accrue more and more, and for what? Why are we accruing all of this wealth? What do we hope to gain from it?

We work to eat more food, but then we just get hungry once more.

Beyond the literal understanding of appetite for food, we also work to gain more stuff, more toys. We set goals for ourselves se that we can get more and more, and we have to be careful that we haven’t fallen under the misunderstanding that satisfaction lies in those things; it doesn’t.

ILLUSTRATE: The question is often asked: how much money is enough? What level of income is the “right amount”? There are studies that have been done on this and they mostly lead to different and contradicting conclusions, but some of the most mainstream results have showed that about $75,000 is the plateau where more money doesn’t actually affect quality of life.

That probably elicits a specific reaction within you, and I’m willing to bet your reaction depends on your own income level.

If you make significantly less than that, you might be inclined to agree with that; or you might even think that 75,000 is too much! If you make 75,000, you probably think that this number is a little bit low, it should be closer to 85 or 90. If you make significantly more than 75, you’re probably thinking there is no way that this is the correct number.

I have heard it said that, when you ask people about the “ideal” income, it’s normally about 10% higher than what they currently make, regardless of their income level.

This betrays something about us as a people: we are not satisfied with what we have and we are convinced that a little bit more would finally bring that satisfaction.

APPLY: And do what degree do we follow this belief? What are we willing to do if it means some more money? What are we willing to sacrifice if it means we can finally hit that point of wealth that we are sure will bring satisfaction?

Are we willing to step on our coworkers?

Are we willing to make a jerk of ourselves?

Are we willing to neglect our family and loved ones, even so we can “provide”?

Don’t misunderstand me; of course we must provide for our families; but how often do we disguise our longing for wealth as though we were simply trying to make life better for our loved ones?

King Solomon has made his point: wealth cannot satisfy you. When wealth is sought out to make you fulfilled, you will only end up with a pocket full of wind and vapor.

He then goes up the next step of the mountain. Here in the middle on either side of the peak, we have a case study, an observed “grievous evil” that shows the truth of what we learn at the base: wealth cannot satisfy.

Case Study 1: Wealth Cannot Satisfy

English Standard Version Chapter 5

13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 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? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Here we read the sad, miserable story of a man who lost everything in a bad venture. Here we have a man who is a father to a son, he has someone to look after and protect. We also know that he has a tendency to hoard his wealth, storing it up and stacking his savings accounts. Who knows how he justified this, whether he convinced himself that he was actually doing his son a favor by living in greed; but then it all crumbled. He lost it all in a bad venture. He played the stocks and lost, if you will. He bet it all and came up empty.

So here we have a man who was on the pursuit of meaning and his vehicle was wealth. He spent his life figuring out how to maximize his wealth, storing it up. And in a moment, he lost it all. He was left in poverty; so what does that man have? From his own perspective, he has nothing. A pocket full of wind. Vanity. A son who he can’t leave anything to.

In his longing for wealth as his means of satisfaction, he was left with nothing. Surely this is a grievous evil, and a case study on why wealth cannot satisfy the one who loves it.

But lets look at the other side of the mountain of meaning to see what we may find:

Case Study 2: Emptiness and Children

English Standard Version Chapter 6

6 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 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 is a grievous evil. 3 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. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?

Here we see a case study that lays heavy on mankind: not just a case study of an individual, but more of a disease that runs rampant among mankind.

this is the person who gets everything his heart desires: he has all the money, the toys, the honor, the fame, the house, the financial security, but he lacks something: the ability to enjoy any of it.

Even in the hypothetical situation where he has a hundred kids and lives a long and materially successful life, he is experiencing a deep and heavy evil when he can’t enjoy anything he has.

The preacher goes so far as to say that a stillborn child would be better off than he is.

Here we see just how heavy this evil is. For as painful as the experience surrounding a stillborn child is, the child itself is spared the evil we experience in this world under the sun. We are told that the child will go to find rest, but the heart that longs to find satisfaction in wealth will only continue to experience pain and misery for as long as he lives.

Illustrate: Oscar Wilde once said “There are only two tragedies in this life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”

There is a pain in not getting something you really want, but the greater pain exists when you have been chasing meaning in something your whole life only to finally catch it and find that its empty. All the wasted years, all the empty promises, all the people left behind; and for this?

Heinz Prechter story

Apply: Some of us are falling victim to this right now without even realizing it. We are on this chase and we don’t even know it. We are experiencing pain in not having it, but if the day comes when God finally lets you have it, there is a greater evil awaiting you.

What then? Are we to abandon everything and take a vow of poverty, submitting ourselves to a life that can’t experience satisfaction or fulfillment? Far from it.

Finally, it’s time that we arrive at the peak of this mountain of meaning.

Only God Can Satisfy

English Standard Version Chapter 5

18 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. 19 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. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Here at the peak we see a change of tone, a redirection of our attention. No longer are we observing a vanity or a grievous evil, but something that is “good and fitting.”

The call isn’t to rebuke any level of enjoyment in the things you have, but to recognize who has provided those things to you.

Money itself isn’t evil, nor are our possessions, but the idolatry in our hearts is evil.

The call here isn’t to give up everything, but to redefine where you find satisfaction and fulfillment.

English Standard Version Chapter 16

13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

We are not meant to simply live in poverty, but to acknowledge God as the provider of every good and perfect gift and enjoy them as his loving provision. James 1:16-17

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change

We believe that everything we have has come to us from God. We don’t need to throw away every gift he has given to us, but it would be an absolute shame if the God who gives our lives value and purpose were ignored in favor of the gifts he has given.

And once you consider the greatest gift God has given you, it begins to change your whole perspective on your possessions and what you do with them.

The greatest gift God has given is of course, Jesus.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God has provided you with eternal life, he has taken away his judgement and shown you favor, and he has done this for all who have faith in the name of Jesus.

God has done what you couldn’t do; he has saved you and brought you into his Kingdom as a son or a daughter. This is not dependent on what you were able to offer him, but it has been done for you through faith in his Son simply because he loves you.

Knowing that, we recognize that he is the good giver of everything we have; our money, our possessions, our relationships, our talents, our property, our food, our living space, all of it. And even more than that, he is the giver of the new life we have in Christ, he is the giver of the ability to enjoy the things he has given us.

Here on this hike up the mountain of meaning we have seen and heard things that ought to shape the way we live and believe. It is clear that no amount of wealth can satisfy us. In fact, the search for satisfaction in wealth only leads to all kinds of grievous evils in our lives. But at the peak, we see that true meaning, true purpose, true satisfaction has been granted to us by God. This is his gift to us, and it has been given through his Son Jesus Christ.

Let me only ask you this: are you seeking satisfaction in the promises of wealth, or are you satisfied in God through Christ? Seeking satisfaction in wealth only leads to more pain, but true joy is found by all who find their satisfaction in God.

Christ connection: You are able to simply enjoy your service to God without the constant pressure of needing to perform. Because his work is completely sufficient on our behalf, we have been freed to give our whole selves to God in service and know that we have been accepted already in Christ.

FCF: We attempt find our satisfaction in wealth, but are never able to.

CFC: Christ is our complete satisfaction, and enables us to enjoy the work we have been given to do.