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Scripture Reading
Introduction
In his first letter to Timothy, Paul writes:
Contrary to Paul’s view, it is often thought by man, even those of us who ought to know better, that our lives would be so much easier, so much more meaningful, so much better, if only we had a little more money.
As good Christians, we would obviously agree that we don’t want an abundance of wealth.
What we’re asking for is not riches… we simply want to have enough that we don’t need to struggle to get by.
There is a humorous but very true comic strip that I’ve seen, that begins with a picture of a man standing on the side of the road, and he sees a man on a bicycle riding past and thinks to himself, “I wish I had a bicycle.”
The next frame shows the man riding the bicycle looking at a person driving a pretty old but still-working vehicle, saying “If only I could afford a car.”
The next frame shows that man in that old car pulling up next another person in a brand new car, and he thinks to himself “look at that new car!”
The next frame shows the man in the new car pulling up next to a BMW X5, thinking to himself “I want that offroad car” (although it really is debatable if the X5 could be classified as offroad!?)
The man in the X5 is obviously not that satisfied, and he sees a man driving a Lamborghini (or something like that) and thinks to himself, “That’s my dream car.”
Finally the man in the Lamborghini looks up into the sky and sees a helicopter, and says “I’d love to have a helicopter...”
The point is very well made.
No matter how much we have, we are always able to, and we typically do look at those who have more, and have at least some measure of envy towards them.
Well, Solomon, as we’ve seen in the past through our studies in Ecclesiastes, was the most wealthy man of his day, and had everything that a person could dream to have, and plenty more.
And yet we find that even he couldn’t find satisfaction in this wealth, and in fact it seemed to present a continuous sore point for him in his life.
What we find in the book of Ecclesiastes is this return to thinking about, considering and mulling over the pains that wealth brings, and the serious consequences for any who choose to make wealth their focal point for satisfaction.
And so this morning we consider this text under the title “The Woes of Wealth.”
1.
The Oppressive Nature of Wealth (5:8-12)
The first point that Solomon drives home is that the pursuit or love of wealth very often goes hand in hand with oppression.
In verse 8, he makes a striking point concerning the expected reality of oppression and injustice in the world, due to a love for money.
In other words, you are to expect oppression; you are to expect injustice; you are to expect people’s rights to be denied them.
Now we must be clear that this is not to say that these things are not good in God’s eyes.
It is simply stating the fact that the poor are always going to be there.
Furthermore, as a general principle in life, exploitation by the more powerful over the less powerful is something that is going to be found as a common occurrence in this life.
The reality is that in a sin-cursed world, there will always be oppression and injustice.
In this verse, Solomon gives the reason why this injustice exists and rights are denied: Because of the relentless pursuit of self-gain throughout the hierarchical structures of leadership.
All the way up through the leadership (in Solomon’s case, he was speaking particularly of the governmental leadership structures) you will find one man seeking to get as much as possible out of the person below them, and this taking place throughout the leadership structure, even up until the king himself - so says verse 9.
This is very much the warning that was given to Israel through the prophet Samuel when they asked for a king to rule over them.
Listen to the warning that Samuel gave to Israel in the event that they they insisted on having a king...
Obviously Israel didn’t want to listen to this, and they proceeding to have a king placed over them.
And the kings typically ruled with some measure of oppressive power over the people.
Even Solomon himself placed a heavy burden onto the shoulders of the people of Israel.
You will recall that when Rehoboam became king after Solomon, the people pleaded with Rehoboam to reduce the heavy yoke that Solomon had placed on them.
But Rehoboam wanted nothing of it...
And so it is that all the way up through the ranks, each man, for the most part, seeks his own good, and seeks to gain extensively at the expense of another.
This proceeds all the way up to the highest rank, and obviously the higher up the rank you go, the greater the takings of wealth will be.
Having asserted this perspective, Solomon goes on to speak 3 proverbs concerning the evils of wealth.
In doing so, he applies these truths to the average person… that is to you and I… with the hope that we will learn through his own wisdom, and so avoid the pitfalls of wealth.
1.1.
Wealth Never Satisfies
The first proverb is in verse 10...
The reality is that the eyes of man are never be satisfied with what they have.
As we’ve considered before in the words of Proverbs 27:20...
When a person begins to accumulate wealth for themselves, it begins to feed an appetite that cannot be satisfied.
One could almost liken the gaining of wealth to an addiction, where once you start down that road it becomes all the more difficult to stop...
1.2.
As Wealth increases, so do Avenues for Spending
The second Proverb that he gives is this...
What Solomon means here is that due to the eyes of man never being satisfied, there is no end to the consumption of the goods that a man may amass for himself.
As wealth for a man begins to increase, so too do the friends around that man who long to share in his wealth.
Furthermore, as the wealth of a person increases, so the taxation increases.
One commentator (Michael Eaton) writes:
riches have a knack of disappearing down a drain of increased responsibilities.
An ‘extended family’ will extend a bit further with each increment; the wage-earner will see the goods but no more.
This is the reality of increased riches.
And at the end of the day, as Solomon notes here, there is no real enjoyment from these goods and this increased wealth.
1.3.
Wealth Leads to Sleeplessness
The final proverb that Solomon gives here is in verse 12...
Solomon now begins to demonstrate the difference between that man who works as a basic laborer, earning and owning very little, when compared to the man who has much wealth.
The reality is that those who are higher up tend to be deprived of something very special…sleep.
The sleep of the laborer is sweet.
Those who simply have the responsibility of working day to day, and have very little that they can do about their situations and circumstances, are typically the ones who get good rest at night.
In those days (and similarly even to our day) the laborer generally was engaged in difficult manual labour that tired out the body.
After a long day of physical exertion, they are able to get home and rest well, and sleep well at night.
Furthermore, since they tend to have little to lose, they have little fear of losing, and are thus able to rest well at night.
The wealthy man, on the other hand, is constantly worried about his wealth: the possibility of losing his wealth; where he is going to gain more wealth; or about the work that he needs to do tomorrow which generates his wealth.
He is continuously burdened by things of life which are occasioned by his wealth itself, or by that which generates his wealth.
Sleepless nights are connected with anxious days.
(Charles Bridges, p.116)
And so this relentless thought about all that he has and owns leads to a lack of sleep.
Charles Bridges writes:
“This is the evil of covetousness—an "easily besetting sin."
Multitudes condemn it in others, who little suspect its influence in their own hearts.
'It is a fleshly desire— something that has got into the place of God—a deep, desperate, plausible, but damning sin.
Men are accustomed to give it a softer name, such as prudence; but there is no sin more hardening, and stupefying to the conscience.”
(p.116)
2. The Destructive Nature of Wealth (5:13-17)
The second key apsect that Solomon goes on to consider here is the destructive nature of wealth that is hoarded.
The first concern here for Solomon is wealth that is hoarded by its owner.
This is the man who stores up wealth for himself as much as possible, and has the focus and drive to always be gaining more.
We considered last week the parable that Jesus gave of the man who had much, and he wondered what he should do with all that he had.
He decided that he would build bigger barns to store all of his grain in, and then he would retire himself, sit back and relax and enjoy life.
But God’s word in response in this instance was “You fool!”
Look with me at the response...
The critical question that Jesus confronts here is whether or not this person is rich towards God.
The man who stores up wealth for himself as a general principle is so focused on his wealth, and his trust placed so heavily in that wealth, that he has little regard for God himself.
The emphasis then is how you use what you have for the sake of the glory of God.
Are you rich towards God?!
In verse 14 Solomon mentions that this wealth that may have been accumulated is lost through some misfortune, and there is no inheritance left for the child.
The point that Solomon is conveying here is that riches are by their very nature insecure.
While a father may hope to give an inheritance to their son (and indeed this is even a good thing, Biblically) the point is that this should not be where their trust is placed.
This is the simple reality, that our trust should not in any way be placed in the abundance of our possessions, and we should always keep in mind that any riches which we may have today, could very well be gone tomorrow.
Solomon then moves on to remind us that just as we came into the world, so we depart from the world...
These are the words with which Job praised God as all that he had was taken from his hands (Job 1:21).
I’m certain that we will all agree to the assertion - naked a man comes, and so he departs.
We come into the world with nothing, we will depart the world with nothign.
But I would ask this question this morning: Does this truth truly influence the manner that you live as a Christian?
For an atheist, there is absolutely nothing beyond the grave, and so life is merely lived for the here and now.
There is nothing else to live for, and so the entire purpose of life is to live it up now.
When there is nothing beyond the grave, this would make some sort of sense.
But if you have an understanding of the fact that life is eternal, then how can you possibly live with that mindset?
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