The Best Dividends - Ecclesiastes 5:8-20

The Best Dividends Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 (c)Copyright June 7, 2020 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche One of the toughest parts of the stay-at-home orders during the Covid-19 outbreak is opening your statements from your financial institutions. It is shocking to see tens of thousands of dollars that simply disappeared from your retirement account. This is what happens with investments: they go up and they go down. The reason this is so distressing is because we anchor our hope to being able to one day stop working because we have enough income to survive. Many of us have said: "I can't afford to retire." We live in an affluent society. And, compared to the rest of the world, we are all steeped in affluence. The problem is, we measure ourselves by each other. If we don't have as much as the next guy, we feel cheated. If we have more, we secretly believe God has been nicer to us, which means, we are more deserving. Solomon is going to put an end to that kind of thinking this morning. In fact, he is going to show us that our obsession with "more" is actually the worship of an idol. He is going to argue that the material obsession is filled with empty promises. He gives us six truths about money we need to remember. Power and Money Make People Feel They are Better than Others 8 Don't be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. 9 Even the king milks the land for his own profit! We all saw the disturbing stories that television and movie stars bribed schools to get scholarships they did not earn. Don't miss the irony that those who can most afford to pay for the education of their children were not satisfied with going to a normal college (which their child was academically qualified for), they paid to get them special scholarships to get into prestigious schools, thus making it impossible for some truly qualified people to get into the schools. We see this also when it comes to paying taxes. The more money you have, the harder you work to find ways to shelter and hide that money so you don't have to pay taxes on it. As a result, the people who can least afford it end up paying the bigger share of the tax bill! Many people have been upset during the pandemic that people who are still working and getting paid well, are the people who are making decisions for those who are just trying to keep their business going. Life is not fair. People with more money seem to be able to erase many of the bad things that they do by paying very expensive lawyers. They can afford to just wait people out while the poor person has trouble even hiring an attorney. Solomon seems to point out that benefits designated to help the needy often have pieces of that help taken from each bureaucratic level until there is almost nothing left for the people who were the designated recipients. It is the infamous "handling fee" that gets assigned by each person who "handles" the money. This is one of the cautions we are given about giving to some charities. You need to learn what percentage of the money is taken out for administration, advertising and so forth before you give. You want to give to organizations where the money actually gets to the people you intended to help. So, the first message seems to be that money can turn you into kind of a jerk. There is no such thing as enough money. 10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The person who looks to money as their Savior will always want more. The most famous quote is that of John D. Rockeller. He was asked, "How much is enough money?" The answer, "Just a little bit more." When you define your worth or build your happiness on how much you have, you will always want more. Think about professional athletes and movie stars. They never say, "I am making plenty of money, save some for the people who aren't paid as well" or better yet, "lower the prices for the people who come to see us." That does not happen. People with lots of money will spend endless hours looking for ways to make more money. Why? Because that sense of happiness and contentment is lacking. Money does not bring happiness, often it just brings more headaches. Some have called this compulsion for more the disease of Affluenza. It is a pandemic even more serious than Covid-19 but nobody recognizes it is as a toxic and deadly contagion. Its symptoms are: discontent, spiraling debt, despair and an increasing sense of deadness and hopelessness. It often leads to desperate risk-taking and sometimes even to suicide. It is a disease that can impact anyone . . . even followers of Christ. Back in the 1500's a man named Quentin Massys painted a picture called "the MoneyChanger and his wife." [Show picture]. The picture shows a man counting his money. His wife is leafing through her Bible (perhaps purchased by her wealthy husband. It seems she is "having her devotions," but she obviously distracted by all the money being counted. As she turns the page, she is captivated by the coin in her husband's hand. Massys was showing how easily money can draw us away from the Lord. The More you Have, the more others will try to get it from you. 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth-except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! Here's the problem when you have money: other people think you should give it to them. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the son was popular and had lots of friends when he had money. When he was destitute those people disappeared. I can imagine him going from friend to friend asking for a job but having doors shut in his face. He ended up feeding pigs, a job that would barely allow him to live. People who win big in the lottery will tell you that people now treat them different. They want to get on their good side so they might get some of that money. Sometimes even in the church we fall all over people who have money because we think they can benefit the church . . . while virtually ignoring a "common person" who is desperately looking for love and grace (who quite frankly, may in the long run greatly benefit the church through their example, their service, their skill set. James rebuked the church for their favoritism. Thieves don't generally target those with little. They target rich people. They steal from fold with the rationale: "they can afford it." And then there are the scammers. There will always be someone who is trying to get your money without having to work for it. No one kidnaps the child of a poor person to hold them for ransom! Money brings its own problems. Money will Keep You Up at Night 12 People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night's sleep. There are two ways of looking at this. The first reason money makes it tough to sleep is because either you are so obsessed with making more money you can't relax. You fret about any downturn in the market. You churn when the news media talks about a recession. You are pinning all your hope on your money so you are terrified of losing it. The second reason you may not be able to sleep: Money creates and indulgent lifestyle which is what makes it tough to sleep because you are often overindulging. It's been a long time now but Alka Seltzer used to have a commercial that showed a guy sitting on the edge of his bed in complete misery. He keeps saying over and over, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." He is miserable from over-eating. Poor people don't have that problem. They work hard during the day and sleep sound at night. Think about the number of people who do not rest because they drank too much and find themselves sick with a terrible hang-over. Some develop other physical problems because of abusing their bodies. There is this tendency to buy, drink, eat, because you can. And you pay for it with sickness and sleeplessness. Commentator Derek Kidner looks at all our modern exercise machines and health clubs and says, it is "one of our human absurdities to pour out money and effort just to undo the damage of money and ease."1 Money can be Detrimental to You Spiritually 13 There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. 14 Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one's children. We have already seen the idea that you can lose everything. However, don't miss verse 13: "Hoarding riches harms the saver." We begin to put our hope in our ability to take care of ourselves and never get around to really building a trust relationship with God. There is a sense in which we seem to believe we don't need God's help like other people do. In the end, that simply means we die with no real relationship with God. It Doesn't Matter How Much You Have, You Can't Take it With You 15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can't take our riches with us. 16 And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing-like working for the wind. 17 Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud-frustrated, discouraged, and angry. How many people do you know who have made a lot of money, gone bankrupt, made a lot more money and then lost it again? Think of it like the gambler. The person who has a lot of money will feel they can risk a lot of money because "they won't miss it." But, when they lose their money, they scramble for a way to get that money back. They tell themselves, "All it takes is one big hand." or "All it takes is for that one risky investment to pan out." And, you keep risking until you have lost it all. And even if you are very conservative and don't take unnecessary risks, you still end up "as naked and empty-handed as when you were born." As the old saying goes: "You never see a hearse that is pulling a U-Haul." When all is said and done, money can do NOTHING for you in terms of your eternal destiny. Jesus warned that it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is because it is hard to trust God rather than our money. We spend our lives believing we could be happy and satisfied if we could just make or get just a little bit more. But no matter how much you have you are still vulnerable. A maverick cell, a clot that moves to the wrong spot, an artery that develops a weakness, a cancer that travels throughout your body before you are aware anything is wrong, a vehicle that doesn't see the stop sign, or a distracted driver, that veers into your lane or doesn't see you stop, and you face the end of your life. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do to defend against the reality of death. No amount of money can protect you. The futility of it all, says, Solomon results in, " living under a cloud-frustrated, discouraged, and angry." (v.17) So what is the alternative? This, I believe, is what Solomon gives us in vv. 18-20 18 Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. 19 And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life-this is indeed a gift from God. 20 God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past. The Blessing of Grateful Contentment In previous verses that sounded much like this, it sounded like Solomon was saying, "Life stinks so you might just as well have a good time while you are here." But we are convinced that is not what he is saying. He is giving us an alternative to the madness that we see all around us. God gives us the things we can enjoy in life and has determined our "lot" or position in that life. In other words, the very place He has placed you is where you can best serve Him in His Kingdom. In other words, instead of moaning about what you don't have that others do . . . be grateful for what God has given to you. Perhaps you are familiar with the theater adage: "There are no little parts only little actors." Everyone has a part to play. Just because it is the lead doesn't mean it isn't important. To enjoy our work and accept our position in life is a gift from God. There are many rich people who are very unhappy in life. There are many others who have very little and overflow with joy. When Rachel was in Africa for six months working with people who had a very different standard of living than we are used to she remarked that these people had a joy and a contentment that was in contrast to our lives here. It show that contentment is not about what you have, but how grateful you are for what you have. It is appreciating God's provision for your lives. Contentment comes when we recognize 1) we are entitled to nothing. 2) God gives to each as He determines. 3) What God gives is always good and appropriate for His purpose in our lives. That does not mean someone who has more is necessarily even being rewarded. Do you remember when the Israelites were in the wilderness and God gave them manna every day? They complained that they longed for meat like "the good old days" (when they were enslaved). So, God sent quail. He sent so much quail they made themselves sick on them. I think sometimes God gives us what we want to show us that we don't know what we need. He allows us to make ourselves sick in the hope we will turn back to Him our true satisfaction and life. The Apostle Paul in Philippians 4 said he had learned to be content. We can learn to be content also, but it is going to require we think differently than we do now. * We need to see and treasure the riches of our salvation. We are moving toward God's new creation where we will live life in His Kingdom. We are forgiven and are being made new by God's Spirit. Our God is working for us . . . not against us! We have received an inheritance that dwarfs anything we could have in investments. The problem is, we look past these blessings as if they were nothing . . . when in reality they are everything. No matter what our lot in life, whether sick or in the prime of health, struggling or soaring, alone or in the greatest of relationships, we are blessed so greatly we cannot even comprehend it yet! * We need to see the people in our lives for the treasures they are. Family, friends, mentors, and those who have enriched our lives over and over. * We must embrace the ministry opportunities God brings to us. These should not be chores . . . they are a delight. They are God's invitation to join Him in the work of grace and the building of His Kingdom. There is no higher form of service. There is nothing that satisfies more than joining Him in this incredible journey. * We must see money as a tool and nothing more. It can be a tool for good or for evil. * And we must take the time to notice the moments. The smell after a rain, the exquisite beauty of a flower, the amazing joy of a partner in life, the blessing of children and grandchildren. Each morning is a new blessing. Each trial is a new opportunity to see God's faithfulness worked out in our lives, each joy is a new touch of His grace. As we do these things we will find the contentment Solomon is talking about where we are fully involved in living each day to the fullest. 1 Philip Graham Ryken, Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2010), 133. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 1