Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I recently came across a story about a research study some years ago that explored the way people related to their eating habits.

The researchers gathered a bunch of people and gave them notebooks with instructions to log every food they ate for the next two weeks.

Whenever they ate a meal, they wrote down what they ate, how much, and what time they ate.

And throughout the day as well: If they ate a Snickers bar at 3 o’clock on Tuesday, they wrote down “Snickers bar at 3 o’clock”, and so on.

At the end of the two week period, the researchers collected the journals and then took all the participants to a residential facility, and for the next two weeks they fed them exactly what they had recorded eating for the previous two weeks!

So at 3 o’clock on Tuesday, if you wrote down a Snickers bar, the researcher would come into your dorm room and hand you a Snickers bar.

And at the end of that two-week period, what do you suppose had happened?

Everyone in the study lost a bunch of weight, because now they were actually eating what they said they had been eating the first time around!

Now as amusing as that story is, it illustrates something very profound about human nature: We have a great capacity to deceive ourselves when it comes to our appetites!

I don’t think that anyone in that study believed they were lying to the researchers in their food journals—in fact, none of them were likely even aware that they were lying to themselves!

I think that’s an important reminder for us as we move into Psalm 49, because if we are not careful, we may find that we fit the satirical description for a “Christian” in Ambrose Bierce’s book, The Devil’s Dictionary: “Christian, noun.

One who believes the Bible is an inspired book, admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor”.

This psalm is a stern warning against trusting the false promises of wealth.

And, like good Christians, right away we start sagely nodding our heads, quoting 1 Timothy 6:10:

And we know the old sayings, “There are no pockets in a shroud”, “You’ll never see a U-Haul hitch on a hearse”, and so on.

But just like our friends with the food diaries who didn’t quite write down everything they ate,

When it comes to our attitudes towards wealth, we are capable of deceiving ourselves.

Take stock of your own heart this morning, when it comes to your attitudes towards wealth.

Sure, you’re happy to stipulate everything we’ve just said—love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, money can’t buy happiness, you can’t trust wealth to save you.

But when was the last time you stayed awake all night worrying about your bank balance?

When was the last time you looked at your neighbor’s beautiful home and resented the fact that you “can’t have nice things”?

How many fights have broken out in your home over how much money is coming in, and where it’s going?

How often do you ignore the offering plate when it comes your way because you don’t have any money to spare, and you need it to keep the lights on this week?

See, we’re not as accurate as we think we are in evaluating our appetites, are we?

The fact is that every one of us struggles at one time or another with the fear that we don’t have enough money.

But what the psalmist tells you today—and what I aim to show you from this passage—is that wealth is a false god that cannot keep the promises it makes to you.

Wealth is a lying god that means to enslave you, it is a helpless god that cannot save you, and it is a treacherous god that will betray you.

And what I want you to see this morning is that

Only God can ransom us from bondage to the false god of wealth.

The psalmist makes it clear right off the bat that this is a warning for everyone:

Warren Buffet might be sitting in his mansion today, saying to his soul (as in Jesus’ parable), “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink and be merry!”

(Luke 12:19), but how many poverty-stricken people are lining up outside the convenience stores waiting to buy the next PowerBall ticket?

Because they believe that wealth will answer all their prayers just as much as the rich man!

And note the psalmist says that “all peoples” should pay attention to him— “all the inhabitants of the world”.

This warning is going out to all people—members of God’s covenant community and outsiders!

Everyone is liable to be duped by the false promises of wealth.

First,

I. Wealth is a Lying god that will enslave you

Look at verses 3-6:

The psalmist contrasts his words— “wisdom”, “understanding”, “solving a riddle” (lit., Heb, “dark saying”) with the iniquity and cheating of those who are enslaved to their wealth.

The word “cheating” here is of someone who would “take insidious advantage” for the sake of gaining wealth.

It is amazing how quickly a person can be corrupted by the promise of wealth.

Be honest with yourself for a moment—how many times have you crossed a line you knew better than to cross because there was money on the other side of it?

Just the tiniest pressure of the thumb on the scale, just a few extra minutes on the timesheet, just a few more dollars on the expense report.

Harmless, right?

They’ll never miss it, right?

They owe me that anyway, right?

There is not a month that goes by when there is not another report on TV about another embezzlement scandal, some secretary who winds up in jail because they stole $30,000 dollars from the Little League account or something.

But if you pay attention, you will find that every single one of them started off with “just a few dollars” that they paid right back the next month.

They all thought they were in control.

But they weren’t, were they?

But that’s the lie that money tells, isn’t it?

Wealth promises you success, but enslaves you to corruption.

The Scriptures are clear that there is no such thing as “no big deal” when cheating—even the tiniest amount—for the sake of money:

You start out with “just a couple of dollars—nobody will notice”.

But God notices.

And before you know it, “the deceitfulness of riches and desires for things” have dragged you across so many lines you said you would never cross and compromised your integrity so far that you become a person you never wanted to be--defrauding and cheating people you are supposed to be serving.

Wealth is a lying god that will enslave you.

Second, the psalmist tells us that

II.

Wealth is a helpless god that cannot save you

Look at verses 7-10:

One pastor tells the tragic story of the 18th-Century French atheist Voltaire, an immensely wealthy man who was one of the harshest enemies of Christianity in Western history.

He says,

“...when Voltaire came to die, it is reported that he cried to his doctor in pained desperation, ‘I will give you half of all I possess if you will give me six months more of life.’

But, of course, it was beyond the doctor’s ability to do that, and all Voltaire’s great wealth could not slow death’s advance.

He died despairing.”

(Boice, J. M. (2005).

Psalms 42–106: An Expositional Commentary (p.

410).

Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.)

Wealth can protect you from a lot of hardships in your life, but in the end it cannot protect you when it really matters.

We hear the same sentiment expressed in the music of that great theologian of the 20th Century, Kerry Livgren:

Don't hang on / Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky / It slips away / And all your money won't another minute buy… (Dust in the Wind lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC)

When that moment comes—as it will come for each person sitting here in this room—all the money in the world will not give you one more second of life.

Wealth promises you security, but cannot keep you out of the grave.

The psalmist makes it clear that money can’t buy your way out of the grave—the only way to buy your way out of the grave is with the price of your life.

But since you only have one life, once that’s gone you have nothing left!

When the day comes that the grave opens up to take you in, all your wealth will be shown for the puny and pitiful god that it is—helpless to save you from death!

Wealth is a lying god that will enslave you, a helpless god that cannot save you, and third we see in verses 11-14,

III.

Wealth is a treacherous god that will betray you

Look at what the psalmist says about the fate of those who trust in wealth to give them worth:

The psalmist paints a provocative picture in verse 11, of a rich man who creates a beautifully landscaped and manicured property and names it after himself.

Think of the beautiful horse farms you see in Virginia and Kentucky—with miles of white three-board fence running for miles along the main road, stately live-oak trees (hanging with Spanish moss) lining a perfectly-manicured drive that leads up to a classical antebellum-style home.

At the other end of the drive, where you enter the property, there’s a gate with a sign arching overhead the owner’s name incorporated into the name of the estate.

But the psalmist reminds us that

It is foolish to expect your wealth to give you any worth beyond the end of this life.

In the end, the only real estate with your name on it that will endure is the eight-foot by 2-1/2-foot patch of ground that has your name carved into a granite plaque at the head!

That rancher may have collected an impressive herd of thoroughbreds throughout his lifetime, but he will go down to the pastures of Death to be shepherded by the Grave!

He may have had a beautiful and elegant home to live in during his lifetime, but someday he will exchange that mansion for the formless and homeless dwelling of the grave.

And that beautiful and elegant home will pass on to whoever bought it at the estate auction.

The psalmist carries this thought further in verses 16-20:

You may spend your whole life impressing people with your house, your car, your wardrobe, your tech—but “when you die, you carry nothing away”—none of those impressive possessions will go with you!

Remember the old bumper sticker from the ‘80’s— “He who dies with the most toys wins”?

The psalmist is reminding us that “He who dies with the most toys still dies!”

Wealth promises you glory, but abandons you to the worms.

In verse 20 he repeats the same refrain from earlier in verse 12:

There is no escape from the grave, and there is no glory that you can take with you there.

So, he concludes, you are a fool if you chase after wealth in this life.