Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:9
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People who pursue wealth will not be satisfied (5:8-12 and 6:7-9)
People who pursue wealth will not be satisfied (5:8-12 and 6:7-9)
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.
Look at America today.
oppression of the poor…the violation of justice and righteousness...
Is this shocking to you? it shouldn’t be....it says “do not be amazed at the matter”.
Why should it not shock you?
Because governments on this earth are corrupt! No Earthly government is going to bring Utopia. Socialism sure isn’t the answer. That brings more oppression and violation of justice and righteousness. Not even our American Constitution is the answer to this world.
Every government eventually turns evil and corrupt.
“Democracy”
control of an organization or group by the majority of its members
the practice or principles of social equality.
It says, “for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them”.
Watched means that the high official, the government officials “look out for” one another, so the poor have no chance for justice.
But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.
to have a king even in an oppressive system is “gain for a land in every way.” The meaning is that orderly rule is better than the alternative of anarchy.
But what about the guy who loves money?
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
Money is never going to fill your appetite. It will never satisfy. You can never have enough. You will always crave more.
Money and wealth is not the problem…its the LOVE of money that is the problem. If you have such a love for money that you do just about anything to get more…never mind justice, it is VANITY. It’s like chasing after the wind. Imagine chasing after the wind.
Look at this text from Paul:
If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Look at verse 11 and 12 now >>>
When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 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.
It must be miserable to be loaded! I’ve seen this and it is so sad. If you ever hang around someone who has money…I mean a lot of money, it is sad to see. And especially when that person who has a ton of money LOVES money.
they become hit from every side and everybody wants a piece of it. It’s not that they care for this person AT ALL it is that they want a piece of that BIG OLE PIE.
All of the sudden they get all these “new friends”…thats the “they” in the “they increase who eat them”. SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME THIS BOOK ISN’T TRUE!…I DARE YOU!
Verse 12…Now this DUDE can’t sleep at night. This dude has to keep PRODUCING. He has to keep the machine running. He knows it is killing him but this is now his identity and he has to feed the machine…which continues to feed his “new friends” that consume everything he has.
JUST LET ME SLEEP…be a laborer. NOT much stress there. You don’t have to worry about the payroll, the employees, insurance....you don’t have to worry about “new friends”.
Again, nothing wrong with money…the LOVE of money is the killer.
JUMP DOWN TO 6:7-9
Lets look at vs 7
All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
Every man works for food. And everyone of us will be hungry in the morning. We are never completely satisfied.
But this appetite is talking is not only talking about food but also wealth. And we are never satisfied with either are we?
BUT THE POOR have an advantage over their appetite...
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? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
THE POOR MAN live by what is right in front of him…they are CONTENT with God’s daily bread.
THE GUY WHO LOVES MONEY is not content with his daily bread…he always wants more and more. His eyes are wandering looking for more.
“this is also vanity and a striving after the wind”.
The Evil of people not enjoying life (5:13-17; 6:1-6)
The Evil of people not enjoying life (5:13-17; 6:1-6)
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.
“A GRIEVOUS EVIL” literally means a “sickening evil”.
People who JUST HOARDED all their money and never enjoyed it.
these people lost all their money. They may have lost it to a stock market crash…maybe they put all their money in an investment and then lost it all. Could have been a RECESSION.
But they held on to all their wealth....maybe hoping to finally retire and then they lost it all.
What makes this story even worse is that they had kids…and they weren’t able to leave them anything…not even memories because they hoarded it waiting to relax later on.
And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
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. 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?
Here is another “SICKENING EVIL”....the RICH HOARDER who LOST EVERYTHING leaves this world just like he came into it.
This guy has a different mindset than JOB. Job loved the LORD....this guy LOVES WEALTH.
THIS GUY spends his whole life trying to accumulate wealth and it is a lifetime WASTED.
What does the life of a man look like who spent his whole life accumulating wealth look like when he loses it all in the end? CHECK OUT VS. 17
Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.
(Jerry A.…was a billionaire)
The rich eat in darkness....their life is over. They have no joy in life anymore. They just want to die.
Here is another person who doesn’t enjoy life:
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 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.
This guy has it all! Wealth, possessions, and honor…he lacks NOTHING of all he desires…
But GOD DOES NOT GIVE HIM POWER TO ENJOY THEM!
The text doesn’t tell us why or how God doesn’t allow him to enjoy them…maybe God allows him to worry himself to death over his fortune.
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.
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT? That a STILLBORN CHILD IS BETTER OFF THAN A GUY WHO HAS EVERYTHING BUT NEVER IS SATISFIED WITH LIFES GOOD THINGS?
YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!
It tells you why in verses 4 and 5
For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he.
A stillborn baby comes and goes before it ever experiences the difficulties of this life. It doesnt know the pain of life in this world.
A LONG LIFE WITHOUT ENJOYMENT OF THE THINGS GOD GIVES YOU IS FAR WORSE THAN NO LIFE AT ALL
Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?
What a wasted long life. We all die. Don’t live and not enjoy the things God has given you.
PEOPLE WHO PURSUE WEALTH WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED
IT IS EVIL WHEN PEOPLE DON’T ENJOY THEIR LIFE....
Final point...
Enjoy God’s daily gifts (5:18-20)
Enjoy God’s daily gifts (5:18-20)
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. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
The emphasis is on “ENJOYMENT”.
Find enjoyment in the little things.
the FEW DAYS we have on this earth we can pursue wealth and money. We can wake up everyday and try to get MORE AND MORE or we can wake up every morning and ENJOY the day GOD GAVE US.
ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS
FOOD
DRINK
YOUR WORK.
Look at vs. 19 again:
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.
Wealth is a gift from God. God gives “wealth and possessions”....and he gives the “power to enjoy them”. It is all a gift from God.
And if we enjoy what God has given us our life will be filled with joy no matter how little time we have here.... READ VS. 20
For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
Thats God’s Word.
So…We can spend our life pursuing wealth…which never satisfies or we can focus on enjoying God’s gifs everyday.
ON THE SCREEN
“No one 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.
HERE IS A QUESTION: SHOULD WE NOT WORK HARD TO EARN OUR DAILY FOOD AND DRINK?
Jesus doesn’t think so. He says that “it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things.”
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
I want to encourage all of us to focus our lives on the Kingdom of God.