The Problem with Wealth – Ecclesiastes 5:8-20

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

You know, a lot of people simply don’t enjoy what they have because they’re too worried about what they want next month or next year. We’re all worrying about the future. Jesus said, take no thought for tomorrow because there’s enough trouble there tomorrow. It’d wipe you out if you knew about it ahead of time anyway. Did you smell the flowers on the way? I say there are no flowers in our condo. Well, look at the grass. The grass is burned. We need rain. I mean, people can come up with anything. But it’s a beautiful day outside. A lot of smog. You know what I mean? It just depends on attitude. And here we read a simple truth. If you’re in love with the Lord, let me tell you something. You’re enjoying your days.

SPEAKER 03 : 1:00

So many people spend their lives chasing what’s next, the next paycheck, the next purchase, the next level of comfort, or how about this one, the next technology. Well, in the process, they never really enjoy what God has already put in their hands. And so, Ecclesiastes chapter 5 exposes that restless heart, the soul that is always reaching for more, never learning to be thankful for what we have here and now. Well, today, Bible teacher David Hawking continues in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verses 8 through 20, the day three of his message, The Problem with Wealth, as God’s Word shows us why contentment doesn’t come from accumulating, but from receiving life as a gift from the hand of God. We’ll be back in the passage in a minute or two. First, we want you to know this. If you need prayer, we’re here for you. You’re not alone. And we count it a privilege to lift your needs before the Lord. Call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible is 24253. And we’ll pray for you. And if you’d like to support this ministry financially as we kick off a new month, you can send a gift by phone if you like, or write to us in the U.S., Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7Oaks.org. Abbotsford, B.C., V2S, 8P1. You can also give online at davidhawking.org. Let’s get back to Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verses 8 through 20. Here’s David with day three of The Problem with Wealth.

SPEAKER 01 : 2:57

I read an article just the other day about the tremendous problems of insomnia in this country. People not being able to sleep. And you know, the more money and the more prestige and the more influence on the chart they were giving, the less ability to sleep. Hey, Solomon said that long ago. Now let’s take a look at the first problem, a lack of satisfaction. Now really three areas he mentions. One is the attraction of money. Verse 10. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver. If you love it, you’re never going to be satisfied with it. Why? As Walter Kaiser says in his book on Ecclesiastes, human desire outruns acquisitions no matter how large the acquisitions may be. Or to put it in the common man’s language, the more a man has, the more he wants. Lack of satisfaction, lack of sleep. Increased wealth brings increased taxation, increased burdens. Riches have a knack of disappearing down a drain of increased responsibilities, it seems to me. Solomon said it long ago. So you say, well, that’s better to be poor. Hold on. The thought of the opposite side is also not true. Well, if it’s no advantage to be so rich, then it’s a great advantage to be poor. Not true. The Bible does not teach that. The Bible never says it’s an advantage to be poor. The Bible is talking about your attitude. The Bible warns even poor folks who want to be rich that they’ve got a problem in their hearts already. In fact, turn over to Proverbs chapter 30, and let me show you the wisdom of a Very wise king. Proverbs 30, verse 7 and 8. Look at this. Two things, the writer says, I request of you. It’s a prayer to God. Deprive me not before I die. Remove falsehood and lies far from me. And give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food you prescribe for me. Lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or, lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. Either way you go, you’ve got a problem. If you’re full, rich, you’ve got everything, then you deny the Lord and say, who’s the Lord? I mean, I don’t need him. And if you’re poor, then you’re tempted to steal in order to get something because you are poor and you profane the name of your God who says, don’t do that. Problems on both sides. There’s no advantage to be poor over being rich. Either way. The whole issue in the battle is in our hearts. And money and wealth can cause moral defilement. It can cause great disappointment in terms of lack of satisfaction and lack of sleep. Back to Ecclesiastes. The third problem that is caused by wealth is that it can cause emotional damage. And here’s where I’ve seen a lot of people just torn up inside. Either having a lot of it or not having it. Money, the possession of it or the lack of it can cause great emotional damage. I picked out of my file letters, and I decided against reading them, but letters that people have sent to me about this issue alone and the emotional damage that’s come to their life. And I just had a stack of them walking through them again and reading again the hurts of people. Over money. Money problems. It affects the marriage. It affects the family. The bitterness, the unhappiness, the problems that result simply in that one area alone. Emotional damage. Wives feeling insecure and threatened. And sometimes guys losing their self-image and their worth simply because they don’t have a job or are struggling with it. And the arguments that happen over money and the lack of it or just the fact of the problems that we now have. The demands that it sometimes places upon us that we don’t want to have, we don’t want to face, but it’s there. I think a summary of that is in verse 13, riches kept for their owner to his hurt. Hurt. You see, money, according to the Bible, wealth, can cause emotional damage. And I think he emphasizes three ways. One, when you rely upon those riches, it causes you emotional damage. It’s going to hurt you when you rely upon your riches. Verse 14, those riches perish through misfortune. How many people have experienced that? You were cruising along, doing quite well, and something happened, and you lost a lot of what you had. He says those riches perish through misfortune. And when he begets a son, there’s nothing in his hand. Listen, a lot of things can change. We aren’t so secure. In 1 Timothy 6, it tells the rich not to trust in the uncertainty of riches. There’s nothing certain about it. The economy can change so fast. I was talking to a friend who lives in a South American country and was telling me about the government’s decision to change the value of their coinage. It was getting so ridiculous. You had to have, you know, thousands and millions of stuff just to get along. And so then they’d change it, you know, and go back to some other system that includes the thousands and millions. And just how they keep doing that and problems just keep getting worse, you know, and inflation keeps going. And in his country, compared to ours, he said, it’s just a tragedy. It’s a wonder anybody sleeps. Emotional damage. Look, please, at this passage. Not only the sense of relying upon our riches, but when we refuse to accept the temporary nature of them, it also causes emotional damage. In verse 15 and 16, he said, as you come from your mother’s womb, naked shall you return to go as he came. You’ll take nothing from the labor that you can carry away in your hand. Paul said the same thing, probably quoting this passage. We brought nothing into the world. It’s certain we’ll take nothing out. You see, emotional damage happens in our lives the moment we forget that principle. Money is temporary, not permanent. We cannot take it with us. Our money, in and of itself, does us absolutely no good in the future. The moment we die has absolutely no benefit. But how we have used the money is the principle of laying up treasures in heaven, according to the Bible. how we have used our money to support the gospel, how we’ve used our money to make friends and help people in time of need. These are matters that we can lay up in heaven, treasures that will be rewarded by God. But you can’t take the actual cash with you. So emotional damage, hurt, always happens to a person when he loses sight of the temporary nature of his wealth. Not only when we rely on riches and not only when we refuse to accept that temporary nature, but there’s a third problem. When we realize the suffering that wealth brings. Look please at verse 17. All his days he also eats in darkness. What does he mean by that? A lot of writers say it’s talking about loneliness. A lot of people say the higher you get on the ladder, the more wealth you have, the more alone you are. There’s a lot of truth to that. The more you see that people are friends to you only because of the money you have. And some of the loneliest, most hurting people in the world are sitting at the top of a lot of corporate ladders and at the head of their businesses that have made a lot of money. There’s darkness. And he says he has much sorrow. Solomon has said that many, many times in his book. In much wealth, there’s much grief and sickness even. Physical problems happen. And anger, bitterness over the years. I tried something years ago. It didn’t work. And now you’re angry. You’re bitter. You’ve never gotten over it. You’ve never gotten God’s peace about it. It’s an affront to your character and your worth. I could have made it go. It was so-and-so that did me in. It was the economy that changed. It was the circumstances. That’s why. And it’s a fight. It’s a struggle to prove that we’re valuable and we’re worth something. And we’re all on the wrong track. The Lord giveth. The Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Christian discipleship is understanding that. The grief, the anger, the darkness, the sorrow, all the result of somebody trusting in their wealth, continuing to build their little empire with no understanding of who God is and what he can do in your life. And even those of us who know that, we often slip off of Christian commitment over to secular thinking. And all of a sudden the money is the big deal again. A lot of people feel they’d lose their importance if they lost their money. Ask them. It’s incredible. One of my favorite persons who’s in ministry today was one of the 20 wealthiest men in the world. An oil magnate. And he lost everything in the Arab glut. He lost it all. He’s one of the powerful preachers of God’s word today. God literally took him out of that and began to transform his thinking and transform his life. But he told me, he says, Dave, one of the first things that happens to you is once you don’t have that wealth, it’s amazing what you feel inside. Like I’m not worth anything anymore. Like people will not respond to me anymore. That’s the trouble with our society. We’re not relating to each other properly. We’re relating to each other on how much money you got, how successful you are in society. And we’ve lost sight that our Lord Jesus cared about every last person that came to his attention. Whether they were poor, whether they were rich, it didn’t make any difference. Boy, we really need God to work us over, don’t we? We’re letting the world control our thinking patterns. Rich people don’t want to fellowship with poor people. They don’t want to get together even in the same house. God help us. Christians ought to set the standard of discipleship and ministry in this area. We ought not to let the philosophy of the world control us or people who are wealthy or powerful in position somehow to think they’re more important. Boy, if we could only get him saved, think of the influence he could have. Sometimes that bothers me deeply. Every soul is important, no matter who they are. We need a new view of what God teaches in His Word. And one last thing. Your money not only causes moral defilement, can cause it, not only can cause great disappointment and emotional damage, but worse than all of that, it can cause spiritual defeat. In the last three verses, Solomon summarizes just like he does most of the other passages we’ve seen so far. And I think the whole issue is very important. Spiritual defeat or spiritual victory? Which do you have in this area of money? Three things I would point out. Number one, you will be spiritually defeated when you do not rejoice in what God has given to you. You’ll be spiritually defeated. Look at verse 18. Here’s what I’ve seen. It’s good and fitting for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him. It is his heritage. You know, a lot of people simply don’t enjoy what they have because they’re too worried about what they want next month or next year. We’re all worrying about the future. Jesus said, take no thought for tomorrow because there’s enough trouble there tomorrow. It’d wipe you out if you knew about it ahead of time anyway. So don’t even worry about it. Live for today. And a lot of us can’t enjoy today. A lot of rich people can’t even enjoy a meal because they’re thinking about all the other meals they want to have. I mean, sit down and enjoy what you have. Did you smell the flowers on the way? I say there are no flowers in our condo. Well, look at the grass. The grass is burned. We need rain. I mean, people can come up with anything. But it’s a beautiful day outside. A lot of smog. You know what I mean? It just depends on attitude. And here we read a simple truth. If you’re in love with the Lord, let me tell you something. You’re enjoying your days. That’s half the troubleness. Well, we’re bitter. We’re upset. People are unhappy. They’re always looking for something to change tomorrow. Listen, if you are walking with the Lord, you’re having a great time. Just enjoy in sickness and in health, sorrow, whatever problems are coming. Enjoy what God has given to you. It’s a principle and spiritual defeat happens every time in people’s lives when they stop rejoicing in what God has done. Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. You can’t do that unless you’re in love with the Lord. Really, you can’t. He’s got to become the joy of your heart. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. The trouble is we’re not committing our way into the Lord. We’re not trusting in him. And as a result, we’re unhappy. You need the joy of God. You really do. And the second thing that can happen in terms of spiritual defeat, it can happen when you don’t recognize that God’s the source of all you have. And that leads to pride. When you don’t recognize that God’s the source, look at verse 19. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor, this is the what? What does it say? The gift of God. Where do you think you got all that stuff from? All that we have has come from God. 1 Corinthians 4, 7 says there’s not anything that we have that we didn’t receive from him. Christian, you can get really defeated when you don’t recognize the source of what you have. When you start thinking, I did that. When you start thinking it was your abilities that achieved it, you’re on a wrong track. God wants people who are humble, who constantly give him praise. Everything that you have, every ability, every talent, every dime, every possession, has been given to you by the gracious hand of God. And you know, that takes a personal relationship with him to even understand that. That all that I have has come from the Lord. Third, humility. Spiritual defeat can also happen when you do not realize that your future is in the hands of God. You can get defeated if you don’t realize that. Look at verse 20. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. It’s one of my favorite verses. I love that verse. You know, a lot of us are looking over our whole life and evaluating all the time. The Bible says the fellow who’s really got it right is not dwelling unduly on the days of his life. Surest way to find out somebody’s not really walking with the Lord is when they’re constantly talking about how great it was 40 years ago. Boy, we had great days there. I want to tell you, I miss them. I don’t miss them. Several people asked the question and said, how’d you like to start all over? Start over? I remember the struggle. You know, trying to live with somebody you don’t know has got weird habits. It’s unbelievable. Mutual, of course. Look, I don’t want to go back. It’s the greatest day to be alive. And the older you get, the more you realize that. It doesn’t matter how old you are. It’s the greatest day in all the world. It’s the only time we get. Why are we dwelling unduly? You see, the text is saying that God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. That’s the secret right there. Psalm 90.12 puts it much the same way when it says, Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. The point of that is to know exactly where you are. People dwell in the past or dwell in the future. You’re missing the point. The only time you’ve got is right now. That’s why it’s dangerous to even procrastinate about your commitment to Christ. Of saying, well, I’ve got more time. No, you don’t. This is only time you have. Now is the accepted time, the Bible says. Now is the day of salvation. We need to make decisions now and not to dwell unduly on the days of our life, whether future or past. This is all I’ve got now, and God holds me accountable. I need to look into his face, not get spiritually defeated, but rejoice in all he’s given to me. Recognize it’s come from his gracious hand, humility, bowing the knee before him and saying, Thou art God. Thou hast provided it all. And to have that confidence that the future is in his hands. I don’t need to worry about it, no matter how troublesome I feel right now about the future. No matter how insecure I might think about my business or my money or my family. I like what Martin Luther wrote and with this I conclude. His last will and testament in 1546 A.D. Just before he died. Here’s what he wrote. Oh Lord God. I thank thee that thou hast been pleased to make me a poor and indigent man upon earth. I have neither house nor land nor money to leave behind me. Thou hast given me a wife and children whom I now restore to thee. Lord, nourish, keep, and preserve them as thou hast me. Amen. What a neat prayer. Lord, I haven’t got a thing, but you’ve been so good to me. And I know one day I’m going to share everything with you. Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:37

That’s Bible teacher David Hawking reminding us that it’s possible to have nothing by the world’s standards and yet have everything that really matters. Wow. This is hope for today. And David will be back to close out our time in prayer in just a moment. You’ll want to hang on for that, dear friend. But just before that, David’s son Matt’s here, and we have a wonderful resource for you. We’re going to give you the inside scoop.

SPEAKER 02 : 21:02

Jim, this note from the Ford of my dad’s book is life with living really captures the sad condition of our world today. It states contemporary culture has lost its way. We have rejected or at least neglected the moral and spiritual values of the Bible. And in our secularism, we have replaced God with ourselves and seem to believe that something is right or wrong, depending upon how the majority of people feel about it. Nothing could be further from the truth. And following this path does not bring us into fulfillment or a sense of well-being in the end.

SPEAKER 03 : 21:31

Solomon discovered this, Matt, in stark and vivid terms. He had more of what the world offers than he could even keep track of, and he was surrounded with wealth, pleasures, influence, and it all led to his powerful conclusion that Life without God, without God on the throne of your heart, is sheer vanity. Yeah, and in today’s world, mankind’s pursuits leading to vanity are viral. Yeah, so how do we avoid that vanity, Matt? How do we stay strong, committed, faithful, and enthusiastic in our walk?

SPEAKER 02 : 22:04

With God. Well, Solomon has Holy Spirit-inspired insights for us in Ecclesiastes. That’s why we’re studying through Ecclesiastes right now.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:12

And why we’re offering you a special power package this month. It’s the Is Life Worth Living Pack, which features David’s book study of Ecclesiastes titled, Is Life Worth Living? Plus, every audio message in our current radio series. Yeah, the complete package, just $40.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:28

The Is Life Worth Living Pack will bless and strengthen you.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:31

And your purchase will also help the ministry of Hope for Today. And please continue praying for Hope for Today. To get your copy of the Is Life Worth Living Ecclesiastes Package, visit davidhawking.org. That’s David, H-O-C-K-I-N-G.org. Or call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And just before David returns, you know, if you ever miss a Hope for Today program, you can always go to our website and listen again. We keep each program there for a limited time. And while you’re on the website, be sure to check out all the Bible teaching, audio, video, and study resources available to you. Again, that’s DavidHawking.org. And as God directs, we ask you to pray for us and to also prayerfully consider standing with this ministry through financial support. We are a listener-sponsored broadcast and gifts from listeners. Your gift will help keep us on the air and God’s word going forth to people around the world. You can give online at davidhawking.org, by phone at 875-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, or send us a note, a letter if you like, to hope for today. Box 3927, Tustin, that’s T-U-S-T-I-N, California, 92781. And of course, that’s in the U.S. In Canada, right to hope for today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, Abbotsford is A-B-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D-B-C-V-2-S-8-P-1. Let’s get back to David.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:12

Father, you know our hearts. And you know what trouble money can cause. It’s just a thing. It has no moral value except as we use it. And it so often controls how we think, what we do, what we say, how we feel. God, how we need the refreshing truth of your word that really sets us free. Some people here need to turn to the Lord in faith and trust and to commit their all to him. right now in this moment, to realize this is the time, this is the day, this is the opportunity. Help them, Lord, to believe in you, to trust you, to put all their confidence in the God who has given us all things to enjoy. Father, I ask you, too, to deliver us from defeated attitudes. Deliver us from wrong attitudes towards our money and bad ethics. God, help us to look at everything in the light of who you are and what you say. Fill us, Lord, with the joy of God. We might rejoice in the Lord always. We might use whatever we have to give glory to you. To once again dedicate all of our finances, all of our time, all of our abilities to you and say, God, whatever you want me to do, that’s what I want to do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:37

Well, thank you, David. And before we go, if you need prayer for any reason, like your health, maybe it’s a family or relationship problem, might be work or your finances, well, reach out to us. We count it a privilege to pray for you and lift your needs before the Lord. And as we mentioned earlier, be sure to pray for us as well, as we trust God for the future of this daily broadcast. Call us for prayer at 875-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Well, tomorrow we look at why life can feel unfair. Why full hands don’t guarantee full hearts. Don’t miss David’s study in Ecclesiastes chapter 6. It starts tomorrow right here on Hope for Today.