Wealth under the sun
Notes
Transcript
Wealth under the sun
Ecclesiastes 4 and 5:8-22
BI: Many problems come when you love money, love Jesus and be content and give to Gospel ministry
Introduction
Well I wonder if you can tell me the artist of these songs.
· Money don’t get everything its true but what I don’t get I can’t use, just give me money that’s what I want? – the Beatles
· Here’s one I grew up listening to on the radio –money money money must be funny in a rich man’s world – Abba
· Finally, I don’t know what they want from me, it’s like the more money we come across, the more problems we see – the Notorious BIG
Money. It’s the topic of many songs. The constant topic on the news. We hear about interest rates, it was so low now it’s up to our necks. We think about our wages and how it hasn’t gone up as fast as the cost of buying groceries. There’s a whole paper devoted to money – The Australian Financial Review. In these times we live in, we feel the squeeze because of the high cost of living. Maybe for you money is tight. Things are expensive. Petrol is crazy expensive. School fees, council rates, everything is going through the roof. Life is expensive. Money is never far from our minds. we sing about money, we read about money, we work for money, we stress over money, we scheme for money, marriages break over money, and as they say, money makes the world go around but is it really worth it? Does it give the meaning of life?
The teacher this morning in Ecclesiastes dissects this so well. This morning, like the past 3 weeks, the Teacher looks at money and possessions, and asks can you build your life on money? Does it give you ultimate meaning? Does it give you lasting satisfaction?
If you haven’t been with us in Ecclesiastes, we’ve already seen that wisdom, pleasure and work – they are dead ends. It’s vanity. It’s a mist it comes and goes. you cannot find lasting meaning in those things. And actually, even time, and the different seasons of life and experiences, it all cancels out in the end. there’s no gain in all the toil under the sun.
This morning, the Teacher lifts the bonnet and shows us heaps of problems when you make your life about money and possessions. And I really want us to think today, is this me? he’s brutally honest in Ecclesiastes. He wants us to see money for what it really is.
He shows us that if you make your life about making money, it leads to more problems. More money more problems.
1. More money, more problems
Look at the first problem. This morning we are moving around a bit in chapters 4 and 5.
First, come to chapter 4 verse 4; if you make life about money and wealth, you are always comparing with others.
Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
When the teacher looks around, he sees people working hard, working late because they want to give to the poor? Do good for society? No, not at all. It’s because of envy. It’s selfishness actually. They want what others have. It’s a comparing game. Humans always compare. There’s an article in Atlantic magazine called ‘The Reason Many Ultrarich People Aren’t Satisfied With Their Wealth.’ I found so insightful. Michael Norton from Harvard business school says ‘At a certain amount of wealth the next million isn’t going to suddenly revolutionise your lifestyle. What drives people once they have reached that point to keep pursuing more money? There are two central questions they ask. Am I doing better than I was before? Am I doing better than other people? This instinct to measure and compare doesn’t disappear once people reach an obscene amount of money. That question, am I doing better than other people only moves people one direction – pushes them to go up. So, a family amasses $50 million dollars and upgrades to neighbourhood when everyone has that money, they feel a lot less rich than they had before when they had $10 – 20 million less. So, its all about measuring yourself with peers and each time you move up a ratchet, and the only person in the world who can feel rich is Bill Gates. Do you see what he’s saying? If you live for money, you always compare. And you don’t compare to people in your pay packet, you compare with people richer than you. and when you get there, you keep comparing. It’s a never-ending comparison game. Always wanting to move upwards.
Comparing. Never satisfied. Needing to one up another. I’m Asian. This is the world I grew up on. Comparing. It’s deadly. Never satisfied. But you know what, it’s vanity and chasing after the wind. It’s pointless.
Secondly, if you are on about making money, its an endless comparison game, and you can end up on your own. It’s lonely. Look at verse 8,
one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
Money often encourages us to make sacrifices. All the hours poured into work means hours not spending with others. It makes sense, you do one thing, you give something else up. Notice it says this one person who has no other, either son or brother. There is no one to get his inheritance after he dies. It's generational – brother and son. It probably wouldn’t change a thing even if he did have a family. He would work anyway. What drives him is just that bit more, just a few more hours working.
We get this don’t we? We might wrap it up in ‘good’ reasons. It makes my family proud. I’m good at what I do. it’s for the children. But it’s actually the core of who you are. It’s to make money. You will make small choices bit by bit, you make the decisions to work just a bit more. If you are married you spend more time in the office than with your spouse, if you are single, you spend more time away from friends than with friends because you think they will understand, if you have kids you think I’ll get just them more toys than being with them. Bit by bit. You end up on your own.
Freddie Mercury remember him, the lead singer of queen he said ‘sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat, screaming with fear because I am so lonely. Although I have what everyone wants, fame and fortune and success. I am lonely. This is a bitter loneliness, this can only be solved by a having a permanent loving relationship.
The teacher says this to wake us up.
one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
Verse 8 who am I struggling for? he is pointing out the man who is just toiling, working working, never satisfied with all this money. what’s the point of being on your death bed with no one around, or if they are around, they are there only for your money. That so sad isn’t it? if getting rich is the core of who you are, it is a lonely and miserable end.
The third problem. the King tells a story of a rags to riches King. verse 13
Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor.
I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
What he says is, no matter how important you are, how famous you are how rich you are now, it’s only for a time. famous today, forgotten tomorrow. You see this with musicians, actors. Does anyone remember Hanson? This was the first album I ever received. It was from my sister. A famous boy band. Don’t ask me why I had the album, I don’t know. They were all the rage when I was 13. But where are they now? Forgotten. None of you probably even know them. the rich come and go. The problem with this king is, he no longer pays attention to warnings. He blocks his ears. He ignores the fact that everyone is expendable. it’s futile. So, are you riding the wave of popularity? You’re a good musician. you’re an excellent pharmacist. You’ve made it. everyone loves you. you have it all. Famous today, forgotten tomorrow.
More money more problems. You live for money, it’s an endless comparison game, you can end up lonely, your famous today forgotten tomorrow, and here’s the fourth problem, you can get exploited.
You can be a great saver. You can be a great budget but even then you can’t stop people trying to take it from you. Come down to chapter 5 verse 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. But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.
The teacher is saying, there is corruption. Corruption is a reality of this world. the poor get ripped off. the rich get richer. And isn’t it frustrating when you can be a great saver, invester, great with money, but you can’t control the fact that people try to take it from you? don’t think money will give you security.
I was at my sisters having dinner the other month. It was dad’s birthday dinner. I’m pretty sure it was that occasion. Anyways, my folks were retelling stories of the past and why they fled Vietnam. I couldn’t believe what they had to go through. The government was so corrupt. This is after the Vietnam War. They said that every family doesn’t matter how much money you have, from a certain date, every family has $300 now. Not one dollar more, not one dollar less. It basically made everyone poor overnight. And this was so corrupt right, because my grandfather on mums side ran a Chinese medicinal business. He was quite wealthy. My other granddad ran a convenience store. they worked hard. they were successful. Mum said, he even stored cash in his home in a huge jar but overnight it all became paper. Corruption.
friends, the love of money you end up playing an endless comparing game, it leaves you on your own, corrupt people take it, It really just leaves you unsatisfied. I hope you can see that. That’s what the teacher says verse 10 famous verse
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
Someone once asked John Paul Getty, he was the richest man in the world in the 1970s, this guy was an oil tycoon had billions even back then, ‘Mr Getty how much is enough? He rubbed his hands together and said ‘just a little bit more.’ If you love money you will never be satisfied with money. I’ve heard this week someone say yesterdays luxuries become today’s necessities become invisible tomorrow. The washing machines, the flatscreen TVs, the i-phones growing up. these are luxuries but we see as necessities. Never satisfied with money, possessions.
And if that’s not enough, here’s the final problem. The fifth problem. You can end up bankrupt.
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.
You work hard. You work long. And then, you lose it all. this time, not that someone takes it, you can lose it in a bad venture, a bad investment, a bad business project. I remember an uncle, excellent invester. Diligent. Studied the trendies, knew the balance sheets, thought deeply about the business models. He lost most of his money. Almost overnight in the Global Financial Crisis.
But you know, worse of all, here's the thing in the end, worse of all, will all be bankrupt one day. you’re gonna die. look at Verse 15 this is so direct - this is the reality.
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.
Doesn’t matter if you are Australia’s richest mining magnate Gina Rinehart worth $37B richest person in Australia, 2nd richest, Businessman Andrew Forrest worth $33B, or third richest businessman Anthony pratt worth $24.3B – they will all leave this world with a $0. We all come with $0, we leave with $0.
The teacher is honest. It’s refreshing how honest he is isn’t it? he does not tip toe around the issue. you live for money, you play the endless comparing game, you end up on lonely miserable, fame today forgotten tomorrow, you can get exploited, you can lose it all just like that. Money wealth just doesn’t satisfy. more money more problems.
2. Take his wisdom about money
So the Teacher gives us two wise bits of advice. i wonder if you picked it as we read. Here’s some good perspective when it comes to money. Take his wisdom about money.
The first is rest: Rest
Come back up to chapter 4 verse 6
Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
It’s proverb. It’s a saying. And what he says is hand symbolises time. If both hands are full of toil, working trying to do more, trying to earn more then it’s pointless – a striving after wind. We only have two hands. All your time spent working brings you all those problems.
But its better to have one hand for work, that is a handful of quietness, one hand for rest and another hand for work. That will give you some balance. It will give you time to enjoy the money you have made and appreciate it. It’s work, and rest. And if you skip down to 5 verse 18 and we’ve read this a few times in Ecclesiastes
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.
If you have rest in life, read a book, have a holiday, enjoy the beach a good meal enjoy it, enjoy the money that you have and that is a good thing. It’s a gift from God. But if both hands are full of effort, if you work and want more and more money then that will crush you. it’s not work then rest. It’s rest while working, a good rhythm. It’s not 2 hands full of effort then 2 hands full of rest. It’s rest and effort together. rest is important so you can enjoy and appreciate the money that you have made.
Rest and work. That’s the first bit of advice.
The second bit of wisdom, it’s interesting he talks about relationships. That’s important. He says in chapter 4 verse 9 see there
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
This passage is used at weddings, I don’t think it’s actually married couples. But its talking about how people are important. Relationships are so important in your life. They are a better investment than money. This is because if you fall, you have someone to lift you up. that is, if you fall on hard times there will be someone there for you. take care of you. relationships are important for us. we know this.
Rest.
Relationships are more important.
But the problem is right, the love of money destroys the best of relationships. And no where do we see this when it comes to inheritance. When parents die, all of a sudden even close family start fighting, complaining I didn’t get this amount, I wanted more, we should sell this, all of a sudden fighting and division and then, they don’t speak to each other. It gets bad. I’ve seen it.
Relationships are so important yet the love of money destroys the thing we need.
But what do we do? how do we get rid of this love of money? It’s so messy.
3. Be content and boldly invest in the Gospel
There’s a verse in the back of Hebrews. It is so comforting. We can be content. Hebrews 13:5
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Don’t love money, be content because Jesus will never leave you. that’s what he says. Why? What’s the connection?
Just like Freddie Mercury says that relationship – the total loving permanent relationship that’s what’s most important. This is what Jesus offers.
See the problem is, we want security. We want to be happy. And we think money will give it to us. buy things, get more, make more. Yet it fails. Again and again. But we keep thinking we just need a bit more. We keep comparing to others. We go back again and again. But Jesus gives us riches beyond our wildest dreams. Remember Jesus was offered everything by Satan. Have the world but follow me, said Satan. But Jesus said no money no possessions can ruin my relationship with the Father. He resists rule of money for our sake. Do you know that?
If you want to be free from the love of money, you need to know the love of Christ.
Think about this;
If you are worried about debt, mortgage debt, credit card debt, Jesus says you have a bigger debt. It’s your sin. But I paid it for you on the cross.
If you are worried about being cheated, exploited of money, I was sold out for 30 pieces of silver. I underwent oppression so you can have freedom – free from sin.
If you are worried about being poor, I emptied myself and became poor for you. I became a man who went to cross for you. I emptied myself taking the form of a servant so you can have an inheritance that will never spoil or fade or perish.
If you are worried about being bankrupt – I lost it all so that you can have a permanent loving relationship with God.
I will never leave you nor forsake you. do you trust me? friends we can be content. We have Christ. he loves us.
So be content with what you have. Enjoy it. don’t be guilty about enjoying it. enjoy it. it’s your God gave it to you to enjoy it for what it is.
So friends, here’s a different perspective – here’s the big challenge.
This is what Jesus has done. he has brought us back into relationship with God. be content, but invest in the Gospel. Jesus gives a different perspective on money. he knows that you can’t love money and love God. it does not work. he gives us another perspective. he says invest, store your treasures in heaven not on earth.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
Right don’t invest all your treasure in things here on earth. It breaks down rusts away, is eaten away by insects.
It’s a mist. That’s what the teacher sees. and Jesus agrees.
But what doesn’t he know?
Well because of Jesus, everything is now changed.
What’s the alternative?
matt 6:20-21
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.
Invest in your relationship with God. Invest in what grows you as a follower of Jesus. that’s how you lay up treasures in heaven. and part of that is to invest in the Gospel. Give to the gospel. Why do that? Because that’s permanent. No one can take it away from you. it’s what you value verse 21 in your heart. We will love what we value.
Church, God wants us to be content with what we have. And i am sure there are some of you that will need to wrestle with that. are you content with what you have? are you loving Jesus more than money? these are real questions. it’s hard to tell right, no one really comes out to say hey i’m greedy. i’m struggling with greed.
But he also wants us to give to the Gospel. Why? That’s what last for eternity. That is treasures in heaven. i heard this from someone and it really challenged me. Imagine you had $1000. You could spend it on a flat screen TV. Enjoy TV for a while. You could spend it on your mortgage, it will get you bricks and mortar for a few short years. But now imagine hypothetically, you gave to CMS. It’s a missionary organisation. Picture in 1000 years when the TV is in ashes, house has turned to dust, and you are in heaven. Someone comes up to you and says I know you don’t know me, but you have some money on mission Sunday, it went to a missionary in China, and I heard the Gospel. Friend, thank you for investing in the Gospel in that way. Thanks.
Friends, money is a gift from God. we can enjoy it. but it has so many problems as you’ve seen. So let’s be content in Christ, love him more, and give for the sake of the Gospel.