The Fustration of Unlimited Wealth and Pleasure
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
The Frustration of Unlimited Wealth and Pleasure
The Frustration of Unlimited Wealth and Pleasure
1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. 2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? 3 I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. 4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: 6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: 7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: 8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. 11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
Greed is never satisfied .....
Greed is responsible for much sorrow. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” But is greed only about money? No. Greed goes much further than money.
What is greed exactly then? What does God or the Bible have to say about it?
Greed is a spiritual disease of the heart affecting all areas of a person’s life.
Greed Definition
Google defines greed as an “intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power or food.”
Vocabulary.com goes a little further in its explanation calling it ugly, insatiable, and gives us the origin of the word. “Greed come from the Old English graedig, or ‘voracious,’ which means ‘always hungry for more,’” they explained.
Greed is always self-centered and never satisfied.
To most people unlimited money suggests unlimited satisfaction and a life filled with happiness and meaning.
Solomon put an end to this way of thinking ....
Having failed to find fulfillment in intellectual pursuit, Solomon turns next to the pursuit of pleasure and wealth
It seems reasonable that one would be happy if one could just enjoy enough pleasure, he thought.
Pleasure, by definition, means the enjoyable sensations that come from the gratification of personal desires.
So he decided that he would live it up, that he would try to experience every stimulation of the senses known to man
The lifestyle is summed up in
10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
I got and recieved whatever I wanted
Nothing was kept back from me
The Frustration of Unlimited Wealth
I The Frustration of Laughter and Pleasure
I The Frustration of Laughter and Pleasure
1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. 2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? 3 I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
Exegete each verse!
Just enjoy pleasure
All under the Sun !
It seems reasonable that one would be happy if one could just enjoy enough pleasure, he thought.
Pleasure, by definition, means the enjoyable sensations that come from the gratification of personal desires.
So he decided that he would live it up, that he would try to experience every stimulation of the senses known to man.
He would drink the cup of fun to the full, and then, at last, his heart would ask no more.
But the search ended in failure. He concludes that pleasures under the sun are vanity. His disappointment is echoed in the verse:
Your eyes will never be satisfied .
Your eyes will never be satisfied .
Death and destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes (Proverbs 27:20).
When it comes to pleasure, you’ll always want more than what you have.
Your eyes will never truly be satisfied by what they take in,
The reality is that there isn’t ever a true “last time” when it comes satisfaction .
Does this mean that God is opposed to His people having pleasure? Not at all! In fact the reverse is true.
God wants His people to have a good life. But He wants us to realize that this world cannot provide true pleasure.
It can only be found above the sun. In His “presence is fullness of joy”; at His “right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).
11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: In thy presence is fulness of joy; At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
The big lie promulgated by the movies, TV, and the advertising media is that man can make his own heaven down here without God.
But Solomon learned that all this world can offer are cesspools and cisterns, whereas God offers the fountain of life.
2:2 As he thinks back on all the empty laughter, he sees that it was mad, and all his good times actually accomplished nothing.
And so it is. Behind all the laughing there is sorrow, and those who try to entertain others are often in great need of personal help.
Billy Graham tells in The Secret of Happiness of the disturbed patient who consulted a psychiatrist for help. He was suffering from deep depression. Nothing he had tried could help. He woke up discouraged and blue, and the condition worsened as the day progressed. Now he was desperate; he couldn’t go on this way. Before he left the office, the psychiatrist told him about a show in one of the local theaters. It featured an Italian clown who had the audience convulsed with laughter night after night. The doctor recommended that his patient attend the show, that it would be excellent therapy to laugh for a couple of hours and forget his troubles. Just go and see the Italian clown! With a hangdog expression, the patient muttered, “I am that clown.” He too could say of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
2:3 Next Solomon, the OT prodigal, turns to wine.
He would become a connoisseur of the choicest vintages. Perhaps if he could experience the most exquisite taste sensations, his whole being would relax satisfied.
He was wise enough to place a bound on his Epicureanism.
It is expressed in the words while guiding my heart with wisdom. In other words, he would not abandon himself to intemperance or drunkenness. There was no thought of his becoming addicted to strong drink. And nowhere in his search for reality did he suggest that he became hooked on drugs. He was too wise for that!
Another thing he tried was folly, that is, harmless and enjoyable forms of nonsense.
more here
Laughter ends
The wine runs out
The folly gets old
Then what ?
Do it over again
Get more
More fun
etc....
If you eat steak every night it begins to tase like hamburger
II. The Frustration of Unlimited Money and Possessions
II. The Frustration of Unlimited Money and Possessions
4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: 6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: 7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: 8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
Exegete each verse
2:4, 5 So Solomon decided to embark on a vast real estate program.
If education, pleasure, wine, or folly didn’t hold the key, then surely possessions would. He built luxurious houses, and planted for himself vineyards by the acre. From what we know of Solomon’s building programs, we can be sure that he spared no expense.
He built enormous estates with parks and gardens—literal paradises. Orchards with all kinds of fruit trees punctuated the landscape.
It’s easy to imagine him taking his friends on guided tours and having his ego inflated by their expressions of awe and enthusiasm.
The world still has its share of the deluded millionaires, like the king in Andersen’s tale, The Emperor’s Clothes. This king went on parade in what he wanted to believe were stunningly beautiful clothes, but a little child could see that he was stark naked.
2:6 Such vast estates needed irrigation during the hot, dry summers. So Solomon constructed aqueducts, lakes, and ponds, with all the necessary canals, ditches, and ducts to transport the water.
If the accumulation of possessions could guarantee peace and happiness, then he had arrived. But like the rest of us, he had to learn that true pleasure comes from noble renunciations rather than from frenzied accumulations. He was spending his money for what is not bread and his wages for what does not satisfy (Isa. 55:2).
2:7 Battalions of servants were needed to operate and maintain the king’s grandiose estates, so he hired male and female slaves. What is more, he had slaves that were born in his house—an exceptionally important status symbol in the culture of that time.
To Solomon, as to most men, one aspect of greatness lay in being served. To sit at the table was greater than to serve.
A greater than Solomon came into the world as a Slave of slaves and showed us that true greatness in His kingdom lies in servanthood (Mark 10:43–45; Luke 9:24–27).
The largest herds and flocks ever owned by any resident of Jerusalem grazed in the pastures of Solomon’s ranches.
If prestige was the key to a happy life, then he held the key. But it wasn’t, and he didn’t. Someone has said, “I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things.”
2:8 And what shall we say about his financial resources! He had silver and gold in abundance and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. This may mean the taxes which he collected from those under him or wealth taken from conquered territories, or it may refer to objects of art which were presented to him by visiting dignitaries, such as the Queen of Sheba.
He tried music. Music has power to charm, they say. So he assembled the finest singers, both male and female.
2:9 So Solomon became great. He had the satisfaction of outclimbing all his predecessors on the prestige ladder—for whatever that satisfaction is worth. And his natural wisdom still remained with him after all his experiments and excursions. He hadn’t lost his head.
2:10 In his search for satisfaction, he had placed no limits on his expenditures. If he saw something he desired, he bought it. If he thought he’d enjoy some pleasure, he treated himself to it. He found a certain sense of gratification in this ceaseless round of getting things and doing things. This fleeting joy was all the reward he got for his exertions in pursuing pleasure and possessions.[1]
key vs 10 - what ever my eyes wanted I got ...
Nothing was with held
10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
I have it all then what .....
Possessions are only temporary.
23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
We shouldn't allow our possessions to possess us. It's in the Bible, Matthew 6:24,
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Possessions aren't necessary for being happy and content. It's in the Bible, Philippians 4:12-13,
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
We should share our possessions with those in need. It's in the Bible, Acts 2:44-46, TLB.
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
more here
Use you possessions to help others and glorify God!
III. Meaningless and Miserable
III. Meaningless and Miserable
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
wow - a entire life with no substance
Then he took stock of all that he had done, and of all the energy he had expended, and what was the result? All was vanity and futility, a grasping for the wind. He hadn’t found lasting satisfaction under the sun. He found, like Luther, that “the empire of the whole world is but a crust to be thrown to a dog.” He was bored by it all.
Ralph Barton, a top cartoonist, was bored too. He wrote:
I have few difficulties, many friends, great successes. I have gone from wife to wife, from house to house, and have visited great countries of the world. But I am fed up with devices to fill up twenty-four hours of the day.
The failure of pleasure and possessions to fill the heart of man was further illustrated by a fictional character who only had to wish for something and he got it instantly:
He wanted a house and there it was with servants at the door; he wanted a Cadillac, and there it was with chauffeur. He was elated at the beginning, but it soon began to pall on him. He said to an attendant, “I want to get out of this. I want to create something, to suffer something. I would rather be in hell than here.” And the attendant answered, “Where do you think you are?”
That is where our contemporary society is—in a hell of materialism, trying to satisfy the human heart with things that cannot bring lasting enjoyment.
What Possession or Pleasure are you counting on?