Woes and More Woes
Notes
Transcript
The biggest problem that people bring up about the existence of God is what is called the problem of evil. Why do bad happen to good people? If God were truly good, he wouldn’t allow bad things to happen to good people. Well, we could take that apart in so many ways. In chapter 4, Solomon pointed to all the oppression that he sees in the world, all the bad things, and he says they happen because of sin. Bad things happen because of sin. We are all sinners and we are all affected by sin. Therefore our existence is defined by suffering.
He took a break and talked about all sorts of other vanities, meaningless things in this world that bring no satisfaction, that make no sense, focusing on finances, saying that if we are not careful, they will be taken away. God himself will take them away, so why focus on them.
In our passage today, Paul circles back to oppression, tying it to finances, saying that in this world, finances is meaningless, empty, does not bring satisfaction, because in so many ways, through so many types of oppression, grievous evils, everything we grasp for is taken away.
Maybe we are grasping for the wrong thing?
Before we dive into this passage, will you pray with me?
1. We Live among Grievous Evils
1. We Live among Grievous Evils
We live among grievous evils in this world. We have it pretty good here in the United States. We are blessed. I have friends in Germany who homeschool and they are waiting for the government to come knocking on their door because it is illegal for them to homeschool. I have friends with family in Ukraine. You know what is happening there. I have friends with family in China, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Vietnam. And there is grievous evils going on. Especially to those who are followers of Jesus Christ.
But all across the board, there is evil. Everyone is experiencing the evil of this fallen world.
Solomon talks about it, applying it to the meaningless of finances. He talks about 4 evils in this passage. While this sermon is completely my own, I am using the four point outline from the NET Bible for this part of the sermon, because it is so succinct.
A. Government Corruption
A. Government Corruption
Solomon points to the evil of government corruption.
If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
Government comes and takes whatever they want. He was not living in a democracy. That was pretty much unheard of in his day.
But, throughout the ages, whatever style of government is installed, corruption comes. Why, because government is made of people and people are sinners.
So, we should not be shocked, or surprised, when we see government corruption, because it has always been and it will always be.
Is this fatalism talking? No, Solomon is not being fatalistic. He is going to bring a solution to the problem, but the solution has nothing to do with changing the type government or installing someone new into power. Because the sin will still be there.
There is grievous evil because there is government corruption.
B. Covetousness
B. Covetousness
There is grievous evil in this world because there is covetousness.
Not only does the government take our stuff but our employers, our friends and our family do.
Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
permits them no sleep.
Several weeks ago, we discussed envy and greed and the pain those sins bring on family and friends, when we will do whatever we want in order to get what we don’t really need.
Solomon saw that over and over again. He saw covetousness all around.
It is said that money cannot buy happiness, in fact the so many rich people are not satisfied, they just want more. And they will do whatever it will take to take money from others to fill that hole in their heart.
Well, I shouldn’t point fingers, because we do it ourselves. We want what others have. We want their bank account. We want their cars. We want their clothes. We want their figures. We want their hair. We want. We covet.
But, unfortunately, once we acquire, we realize that it’s not enough to fill this aching in our heart. We still are not able to sleep, as Solomon points out in verse 12.
And we are worried that what we have will be taken away. Because
As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?
The more we have, the more others covet, and they start grasping and clawing at what we have. No matter the size of our bank account, there is always someone who wants what we have.
This covetousness breeds grievous evil.
C. Materialism
C. Materialism
Ya’ll ready for another one?
There is grievous evil in this world because of materialism.
Solomon writes:
I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
there is nothing left for them to inherit.
Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toil
that they can carry in their hands.
This too is a grievous evil:
As everyone comes, so they depart,
and what do they gain,
since they toil for the wind?
All their days they eat in darkness,
with great frustration, affliction and anger.
I wonder what Solomon would write if he could see our holidays. How everything revolves around the stuff we can get, whether it is decorations or gifts, or cards. We all want stuff. Unfortunately, we raise our kids in that mindset, telling them to make lists of what they want. But, how many of us tell our kids to make lists of what they are going to give.
Wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners. Unfortunately, causes wealth lost in some way.
Either through the pain of this life or through the pain of death. We can take nothing with us, so why do we create our priorities in this life based on the things that do not matter, that just fizzle away.
We focus on what we can get so much, that we live in frustration, affliction and anger, just as Solomon says.
I think of Smeagel in the Lord of the Rings. He focused so much on the ring “the precious” it consumed him. It changed him. The way he treated people, his priorities, his actions were defined by his love of the ring. And then when the ring was taken away, what he did and how he treated people was all based on trying to get the ring back.
Those who are materialistic, who have their priorities based upon what they can get in this life, the stuff that they can pile up around them, only receive misery in this life.
There is grievous evil in this world because of materialism.
D. Depression
D. Depression
Now, I have to speak carefully again. Depression does not produce grievous evil. But, depression imitates it. It clouds our minds so that we cannot see what we have, and we act accordingly. We do not enjoy the blessings in front of us, so that it seems that we actually do not have and we wish for more or something else.
I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man—even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
yet their appetite is never satisfied.
What advantage have the wise over fools?
What do the poor gain
by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
Better what the eye sees
than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.
Solomon looks at all these different people, some are depressed, some aren’t. But they all are not enjoying the life that they have been given. They all are miserable in their own way. They all are seeing a lack in their life and wishing that their life would have turned out differently. That they would have just had this other thing, or this event would have happened or not happened. And, so they are miserable.
Not being able to enjoy life produces a life that is meaningless.
2. God Gives an Oasis
2. God Gives an Oasis
Yes, we live in a world of oppression, grievous evil, as Solomon shows us. Oppression because of our sin. Thankfully, though, Solomon tells us that we have an oasis in the midst of the oppression, in the midst of the sin that plagues us.
This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. 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. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.
A. Accept our Lot
A. Accept our Lot
First, Solomon urges us to accept our lot.
This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.
Whatever situation we are in, whether we are wealthy or whether we are poor, we are to be content in that situation.
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to better ourselves, but what it does mean is that we don’t have our focus on better ourselves, expecting that we can find happiness in something else, that joy is just around the corner, and so we are focused so much on trying to get around the corner that we don’t recognize what we have right now.
It’s like the parent who goes on vacation with their kids and they are so focused on documenting the vacation with their camera, so that their kids can look back and remember, that they never get a chance to actually enjoy the vacation with the kids, building memories right then.
We are to look at our situation and accept what God has given us.
B. Enjoy Our Blessings
B. Enjoy Our Blessings
Once we accept the situation which God has placed us in, we can enjoy our blessings that we have.
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.
None of us, probably, will be the wealthiest person in the world, but we will all have something.
I will never forget visiting Brazil in my senior year of high school. I went there for a month, part of a drama/music evangelism team. We went to two different areas and performed at youth camps, public schools, and on the street corners. Several of the places we went were impoverished. People living in shacks of wood and tin, surrounded by dirt, shack stacked against shack.
And those kids we interacted with were happy. If we lived in those conditions, we would be grumbling, at the very least. But, these kids were happy. They were talking and laughing and playing with worn out balls.
We visited a school in a community a little better than the one I just described, but still poorer than I grew up, and a kid asked if I had a pocket Bible in his language. I didn’t. So, he came at the end of the day to find me and gave me one.
I had enough money to buy one, but I doubt he did.
When we are able to accept our position, to say: God’s in control and I trust him.
We can look at our circumstances, see the blessings that we have, confess that they are enough, and we can start enjoying them.
Unfortunately, we have convinced ourselves in our society that it is more fun to complain and to crab than to enjoy life.
And not just life, but what does Solomon say:
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.
To be happy in our toil. To say: what I have to do today is actually a blessing.
That rarely happens. But, when we can accept our lot, it does.
C. Return Thanks
C. Return Thanks
When we accept our lot and start enjoying our blessings, we can turn to the one who gave us our situation and the blessings and we can give him thanks.
They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.
These people don’t have time to assess how the days have dragged on or not, because they have been so occupied by a gladness of heart, a spirit of thanksgiving.
Do you know anyone like this, someone who is sickeningly thankful?
They stub their toe and say: I am so glad that I did not break it.
They total their car and their whole day’s schedule is shot and they say: You know, God must have been protecting me from something even worse happening.
Do you know anyone like that?
We say it is sickening, because in our mind it is inhuman, unrealistic.
But, Scripture says something different:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
How in the world can we give thanks in all situations?
Well, it starts with perspective. We remember God, the creator of the universe loved us so much that he sent his son to die a most miserable death on the cross that we might have a personal relationship with him and through that relationship, we might truly live. We remember that he is good and does all things good. So, when we look at our situation, we can accept it knowing that the God who is good is in charge.
Accepting our situation, we can start looking around to see all the ways that God has blessed us. Because he is a God who pours down blessing.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
We just need to open our eyes and see it.
And when we see that blessing and we are overwhelmed by God’s proof of his love and his goodness, we cannot help but be thankful to the God who loves us, comforts us, and walks with us, through the oppressions and evils of this life.
Yes, this life is filled with evil. But God is good and proves his goodness. Tell me about his goodness someday.
