The Meaningless of Loving Money

Ecclesiastes 5:10-6:6

Solomons words remind us of what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:9-10:

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.

Paul says those who love money fall into a trap and are ruined.

One interesting thing about fishing is you can increase your odds of catching a particular species of fish by the bait you use.

Bass- rubber worm

Bream- cricket

Catfish- cutbait

The devil knows how to increase his odds if he wants to snare a human. All he must do is bait the hook with a dollar bill. People love money. They will overlook many dangers to get money. Before you know it he has set the hook and is reeling you in.

This morning we are going to consider three things Solomon learned about the love of money.

1. Beware of the deceitfulness of riches (5:10-15).

A. The more money you have the more money you want (10).

Why do people love money?

People love money because they think it will provide them with the things they need to be happy. Money = things.

For lots of people money becomes addictive. They get a taste of money and they like it. They become fixated on making and keeping more.

Illustration:

Listening to Dave Ramsey. Guy was talking about how much money he was making. Finally decided he needed to do something with all of his money. Dave asked him what made him come to his senses. His answer?

I ran out of stuff to buy.

There are people who have more things than they need.

They have more money than they can spend. Yet they want more money. They are addicted to money. They love money. The person who loves money will never have enough.

Money may pacify you for a short amount of time, but it will never satisfy you. If your goal in life is to get enough money to satisfy yourself you are fighting a losing battle because money does not satisfy.

If you love money you’ll soon discover it can’t love you back.

B. The more money you have the more people want what you have (11).

If you achieve your goal of wealth you’ll realize that this world is filled with leeches. Wealth invites a host of new “friends”.

They want to help you spend your money. Whether it be through investments, purchases, or loans, they think they know what you should do with your money.

Look at the second part of verse 11. It says all the rich person is doing is looking at the stuff they have. It’s like the boat parked under the covering or the clothes with tags still on them.

These new friends say “You’re not doing anything with all this stuff. You might as well give me your money.”

It’s not hard for poor people to know who loves them. It’s difficult for rich people to determine who really cares about them. Rich people will find themselves surrounded by fake people who will tell them whatever they want to hear.

We always hear “Money can’t buy love.” There’s something else money cannot buy. It cannot buy friendship. You can rent a friend with money, but you can’t buy one. If you love money it can lead you to a place where you wonder if the relationships you have with others are real or fake.

C. The more money you have, the more you have to worry about (12).

Solomon tells us in verse 12 that a poor man who just goes to work everyday sleeps well. It doesn’t matter if he has a full or an empty stomach. He sleeps well.

The rich man has insomnia. Why? All the poor man has to think about is getting up when the alarm goes off, going to work, and coming home. The rich man has all kind of things to worry about: Payroll, maintenance, insurance, staff meetings etc. keep him up late at night.

You cannot put a price on a good night’s sleep. When Michael Jackson suddenly died in 2009 it was from an overdose of propofol. Propofol is a sedation drug. It’s used as general anesthesia for surgery. Why was he taking such a powerful drug? Because he couldn’t sleep.

The more money you have the more your phone will ring.

The more money you have the more problems you have to solve.

The more money you have the more meetings you have.

The more money you have the more questions you have to answer.

If your goal in life is to be rich just know you’re not going to get a lot of rest. Be ready to deal with anxiety.

D. The more money you have the more money can hurt you (13).

Wealth can hurt man because it keeps him from the true priorities of life: namely faith in God. Money isn’t always the cure, sometimes it is the cause of the problem.

Solomon says he had witnessed people harmed because they had money.

The target of evil people. (extortion, blackmail, lawsuits)

The judgment of the Lord. Jesus gave an example of this. Hoarding money will hurt man (Luke 12:13-21). Your stuff can be evidence against you on the day of judgment.

God will not be impressed with how much you have when your life is over. He will be concerned with how much you have done for Him.

E. The more money you have, the more money you can lose (14).

All your riches can be gone as the result of one bad thing.

A bad business deal

A change in the Stock Market

A crooked business partner

If the poor man loses his last five dollars he has lost everything, but he has only lost five dollars.

If the rich man loses all, he has lost something far more difficult to get back. One bad decision or a natural disaster can take away years worth of work and planning. He doesn’t even have anything to leave his family.

One man loses all but he only loses five bucks.

Another man loses all but he loses five million bucks.

Who is more depressed?

F. The more money you have the more money you leave behind (15).

Solomon says death is like birth in that when you were born you brought nothing with you and when you leave you take nothing with you.

That’s true isn’t it?

You ever seen a baby come out of the womb with a suitcase?

The baby says, “Here I am, look what I brought!”

Somebody says:

“Ole Brother so and so died.”

“Really? How much did he leave behind?”

“All of it.”

It’s not that you can’t take it all with you. That’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying you can’t take a red cent with you. It is a depressing thought to spend your entire life loving something that you can’t take with you when you leave this world.

2. Consider where the love of money can take you (16-17; 6:1-6).

A. The love of money can lead you to depression (16-17).

Solomon paints a picture of a man who worked hard, obtained much but is eating in darkness. Look at the description of this person in verse 17:

Sorrow, anger, sickness

Is there anything more depressing than eating alone in a dark room?

Eating is supposed to be a time of fellowship & joy. This person has no joy. He has no one to eat with. Why?

The love of his life was money! As I’ve already said, money can’t love you back.

Solomon shows us a person who was so fixated on money he isolated himself. His love of money transformed him in to an angry old man who was depressed, sick, and couldn’t even find a person to share a meal with.

B. The love of money can rob you of the inability to enjoy life (6:1-6).

Look at the man in 6:2

He has money

He has possessions

He has honor

He has everything he desires materially speaking

There were three things the Jewish people desired in Solomon’s day:

Wealth

Long life

Children

If a person had those three things, they were considered blessed. The man Solomon describes in these verses had all those things.

Solomon says if a man lives 2000 years (6) and has 100 children (3) he can still have a terrible life. He says that a stillborn child is better off than the rich man who died of old age (6:3).

Why?

The rich man struggled through life only to end up with nothing. When he died, he had accomplished the same thing the stillborn child had accomplished: nothing. The only difference was the rich man had the sorrows of life to deal with.

Verse two says this man had everything but never enjoyed anything.

To enjoy life you have to slow down.

To enjoy life you have to be willing to develop deep relationships with others.

I don’t want you to misunderstand me. You can love money and have fun. You can do that for a while. Solomon isn’t saying you can’t do that. But the pleasure of sin is only for a season. Solomon is looking ahead at the end of a person’s life who lived for money.

There’s a couple of ways you can rob yourself of joy because you love money:

1) You are so busy making money you don’t enjoy what God has given you.

2) You indulge in sin and what you think is joy isn’t joy at all. You will either regret and repent of your actions or you will pay for them for eternity. Either way what you though was joy will be turned to sorrow.

3. Enjoy your present life in a godly manner (5:18-20).

A. Enjoy the fruit of your labor (18).

Verse 18 describes the working person.

Do you have a skill? God gave you that skill.

Do you have a job? God gave you that job.

Do you get a paycheck? God gives you that paycheck.

Money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of all evil.

God has given you the ability to live a certain life. Enjoy that life.

Pay your bills

Give to the Lord

Save some money for the future

But enjoy life too!

I don’t have much money in the bank, but my bills are all paid. I could choose to not go on vacation so I could put more money in the bank. But I’m not going to do that. God has given me a job where I can afford a little something. I’m going to enjoy a little something.

We just got back from vacation. We went out to eat and it hurt. I mean it hurt!

We went to the same restaurant twice because we like it. I got the mullet both times.

The waitress asked, “Have you ever had mullet?”

I was a little offended. I know mullet are cheap, but I like mullet. I didn’t get mullet because they were cheap, I got mullet because I wanted mullet. But everyone got what they wanted. It was vacation. We splurged.

We went to the arcade.

We got desert.

God has blessed us with the ability to enjoy life to a particular level and we are going to strive to do that.

B. If you are wealthy enjoy your wealth in a godly way (19).

Look at verse 19. Solomon says whatever you have is the gift of God.

If you’re wealthy and unhappy something is wrong. There’s no reason to feel guilty about being wealthy if you are a good steward of your wealth.

If you go to church

If you live for Christ

If you give to the Lord and His work

Why are you sad?

C. Contentment can be experienced by anyone (20).

Verse 20 shows us a person who doesn’t concern himself with the cares of this world. He is not a worrier. He is not depressed. He is content in the Lord.

Money doesn’t buy joy. Jesus bought joy on the cross.

Some of our happiest moments were when me and Jennifer had nothing.

When we look at pictures.

When we talk about our life.

Some of our happiest moments were when we had no home of our own and $100 in the bank.

I bet the same is true for you. This proves money does not buy joy and contentment.

When Christ is your everything you can be happy even if you have nothing. That’s the key.

1 Timothy 6:6 says

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Great gain!

What the world is searching for cannot be bought with money. What the world is searching for was purchased on calvary.

Your sins can be forgiven.

You can be made righteous.

Your future can be secure.

Your rewards can be kept safe.

Your family can be together.

All this is accomplished in Christ.