Enjoying God's Gifts

0:00He's excited. Uh if you would turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter five. We're going to start this morning in verse eight and go all the way through verse nine of chapter six. But before we jump into that, I want to give you a couple a quick update on the next couple weeks. As mentioned last week, we're taking a break from Ecclesiastes after this week for a few weeks. That will lead us up and up into and through Christmas. We've now hit the halfway point of Ecclesiastes. After this, we will be we will be halfway through. And in doing that, Pastor David will be in the pulpit uh starting next week, leading us through Christmas. He says yes. We did talk. Yeah, you did. I'm certain he's got some great uh gospel words for us over the next uh couple weeks. So we'll start the new year then, uh back off in Ecclesiastes to finish off uh the second half of the book. So uh let's jump into the passage this week, as this is a little bit longer section than normal, and there is uh quite a bit to cover today. Uh I do need to remind you uh of the context from last week, uh which was our reverence in the house of God. Our reverence in the house of God is what we covered, uh what we covered last week. Our verses last week were aimed uh more specifically at our time here in worship and our appropriate posture in worship and in prayer. And it is with that understanding of reverence that the teacher now turns his attention back to our daily lives. He visits once again in greater detail now the vanity of wealth and honor, the vanity of wealth and honor. We must assume uh that the pursuit of worldly riches and honor among men was a widespread issue, as he has now addressed this topic on multiple occasions, um, and he takes on this sin here in much greater length. The teacher also addresses the remedy to this problem, which is also one that he has mentioned uh several times previously and that we will discuss this morning. We cannot deny the reality that humans' obsessions, human obsession with material wealth and worldly honor were then, at the time that this is written, and very much still today, one of, if not the biggest issue facing the world. While this should not be minimized, and the issue should be pop properly addressed, we can at least be comforted by the fact that this is not a modern problem. For the person who romanticizes those kind of little house on the prairie days, uh, as though people before the industrial age were so much more happy and more content with life, I think we can read these verses and hopefully see that such sin and temptation, they've been around since well before Laura and Charles were around. Just as the sins of our fathers were the same, and that there is nothing new under the sun, the biblical prescribed remedies are also the same. And that's what we're going to look at this morning. There is perhaps no better time to battle this topic and remind us of the peace we can have simply by enjoying and honoring the provisions that God has given us, even when they appear as simple as a stable and a manger. Often the greatest provisions which offer us the most unexpected joy come in the humblest of forms. So let's read our text this morning. This is uh starting in verse 8 of chapter 5. If you would please, sorry, stand with me. Almost forgot. I'm just getting through it here. Let's read. 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. This is gain for a land in every way, a king committed to cultivating to cultivated fields. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income, this is also vanity. When goods increase, they increase to 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. This 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 the father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand, and 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 is also a grievous evil. Just as he came, so shall he go. And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness and much vexation and sickness and anger. 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. Every one also to whom the Lord 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 the joys in his heart. 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 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. If a man follows 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 and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For it comes in vanity and it 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. Even if he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good, do not all go to one place. All the toil of all the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage has the wise over the fool? And what does the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite. This is also vanity and striving after the wind. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We ask that you would speak now for Christ's sakes, and it's his in his name I pray. Amen. Thank y'all. Made y'all stand up for a long time. That was a large passage. Uh this past summer, uh, when we went to the beach, uh, we went down a day early and uh and stayed in a hotel the first night to extend our trip a little bit. When we pulled into the hotel that I had booked, uh, we were instantly, or I would say some people were instantly a little leery. Uh I did my usual, like, it's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine routine. Uh but when we got to the room, it wasn't exactly fine. Okay, I'll I'll spare you the details. But we got our money back for the room, uh, and we found ourselves in the parking lot, uh, four hours from home, uh, trying to figure out what we were gonna do next. Uh Cora chimed in uh with what is now an often repeated statement in our house the Lord will provide. Uh the Lord did provide, in fact, and we found a better place. We had a great time, it was it was all wonderful. The question for us this morning is do we live with that attitude? The Lord will provide. Or do we live with the attitude I will provide? Often when we pass uh a billboard for one of those big lotteries when we go down to Houston, uh my mind's eye grows large. Uh examining all the ways I could spend such a vast wealth. I don't know if I'm the only one, I doubt it. Uh after I've done spending all the money and investing it, I usually uh conclude with it would just be nice uh if the cost of things wasn't such a concern, right? Just be nice. I don't think that thought is in and of itself sinful. Uh it does pave the way down a path, I think, that leads away from the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. Uh the reality is that there's only two streams of provision for every person. Either the Lord is providing, and you are content to let him provide, or you are attempting to provide for yourself. This applies to our daily provisions, but it also applies to our spiritual provisions. And those are really the only two options. One leads to joy and peace, the other leads to frustration and disappointment. And our text begins somewhat strangely. I think anyway, one might assume that we would be commanded in the face of oppression and justice to have uh compassion, perhaps, uh, or to list some things that we may do about it, right? Have compassion, or here's some things you can do about this oppression and injustice. And I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't have compassion or that we shouldn't do things about injustice. We certainly should, uh, but the text does not speak to that here. Rather, it informs us that we shouldn't be shocked when we see these things. We shouldn't be shocked when we see these things. If you look out into the world and you see that uh poor people are being oppressed, and that injustice and justice and righteousness are being violated, don't let that amaze you, our text says. Don't let that surprise you. Why? Why is this so? Because the high official is watched by a higher, the text says. The high official is watched by a higher authority. Everyone has someone above them that they are working for, with a temptation to exploit someone below them so that they can climb to a higher position. Right? We've experienced this, and this is the reality. And this cycle is never ending. Because it will always seem as though someone is higher and more needs to be done or more needs to be attained. I'll give you a real-world example that applies directly to the text. A while back, uh billionaire Bill Gates started buying up farmland in the U.S. It's estimated that he now owns uh almost 300,000 acres of farmland in the U.S. What good could be done with such a staggering resource? Our text says that such an acquisition of land is a gain in every way when the king is committed to cultivating the fields. Those 300,000 acres of land, by some estimates, in the right hands, could produce enough food for well over a million people. In 2022, there were 582,000 homeless people in America. Which means that the farmland that just one man owns and does nothing with, by the way, this is true, is enough to feed twice the entire homeless population in America. If we were actually committed to helping people and providing for people, all of our problems, homelessness and hunger, would be eliminated. Likely within a decade or so. Which means we don't have a food shortage problem or a housing shortage problem. We have a greed problem. We have a sin problem. We have an insatiable appetite for wealth for moving up that we're often totally blinded to, and oblivious of the realities all around us. Our supposed compassion for others tends to wane when such compassion would come in the way of personal growth, the acquisition of more stuff. Our text continues. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. Nor he who loves wealth with his income, this is also vanity. Honest question. Have you ever met anyone who is satisfied with their income? Have you? Have you ever met anyone who said, yeah, I'm fine where I'm at. I really don't need to make any more money. I honestly don't even want to make any more money. I haven't. And I've never said that. Why do you suppose that is? Our text tells us it's because when goods increase, they increase who eat them. When goods increase, they increase who eat them. The more money we make, the more things we buy, which necessitates the need for more money. To get back to that comfortable place again. But when we get there, we just acquire more things. So we have to make even more money and make further acquisitions. This is the cycle of the vast majority of us, including myself. What's more, the advantage each has is only to see them, their possessions, their acquisitions with their own eyes, our text says. We don't really enjoy the fruits of our labor or delight and the contentment with the provisions of God. We all just sit back and watch all the things we have acquired devour the gains of our labor and the provision of the Lord. If this text is not speaking so directly and specifically into most of our lives, I have no idea what biblical text is, because this one definitely is. This word from the Lord is quite literally, this week, at least for me, won't speak for y'all, uh, laying us bare before him. I may have uh mentioned this before, uh, but if you ever visited some of the poorer countries, uh, you will have inevitably seen that despite how little others have, they display a far greater joy than those who have a thousand times their wealth. And it's just because the substance of joy is not found in stuff. I think the text actually says the opposite is true. More often, the more stuff we have, the less our joy and the greater our vexation. We toss and turn wondering how we're gonna keep all this stuff that we've acquired, stressing that we're one bad venture away from losing it all. Why do we keep living like this? I contend it is because we lack faith. We lack faith that the Lord will provide. We lack faith that the Lord will provide, and we lack contentment in those things that the Lord has given. Further, we don't tr we don't know, and we don't trust his word when he says, sweet is the sleep of the laborer. Sweet is the sleep of the laborer. And this runs much deeper than money, as you would expect. That's not really what I'm talking about, although in some ways I am. To get to the root of the matter, we have to look at this from a heart level. Address it with theological truths. As I have alluded to, and uh perhaps the reason why we continue to have a faulty understanding of wealth is because we have a faulty understanding of theology. Ask most people how they were saved, or if they are headed to heaven, and most will begin with I. I did something. I lived a certain way. I'm a good person. I, I, I. When that is your theological basis, right? That God helps those who helps themselves. We've heard that before. Or that Christ simply opened the door and the rest is all up to you. I can no wonder we have a self-centered view on everything else. I don't know how many more ways I can say that. That what we believe about God affects what we believe about everything else. If you view God wrongly, you will view life wrongly. And you will screw everything up. It's hard enough when you have a correct view of God. So let me remind you again of the truth of the gospel. All things come through the hand of God. All things come through the hand of God. This is Deuteronomy. It's another slightly long passage, but I'm gonna read it to you. Deuteronomy 8 2 through 10. You don't have to turn there, I'm just gonna read it. Deuteronomy 8, 2 to 10. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you, and let you hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live on bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep his commandments, that you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks, fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and the hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, and which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no man may boast. Romans 8, 31 and 32. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not, how will he also not with him graciously give us all things? It was God who led his people and gave them food. It was God who made them hungry at times so that they would depend on him alone. It was God who chastened them when they disobeyed. It was God who kept them clothed and sustained their bodies. It was God who created the promised land for them and led them there. And those same promises from the same God are still true for each of us. Further, it is God who has called you, saved you. Salvation offered through Christ is a precious gift. Not of your own doing, not as a result of works, for we have no ground of boasting before God. Even more, if God has done all of this, completely and totally apart from anything you have done or ever will do, if he has spared not his own son for you, how will he not also give you everything you could ever possibly need? Do you suppose by your efforts you could add some measure of wealth to your life that God has not already ordained for you? Do you think you can add some greater joy to your life apart from what God has already decided will be best for you? How long must we continue to chase the idols of our past? When God is telling us to stop running, I've done everything for you. How many of us need to hear the sweet words of Christ? Release us from the weights of life? As those are given in Matthew 11, 25 and 30. These are the words of Christ. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me, upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Again, that's Matthew 11, 25 and 30. May our gracious Lord open the eyes of our hearts this morning to see his provision and to trust in him. May we be free from the burden of wealth and simply trust and be content in him. I start wrapping up here, but I have to make sure everyone understands a few things. Certainly the Bible, the Word of God, and I in submission to the Bible, the Word of God assumes, does not assume that wealth is necessarily evil. Money and wealth are not the root of all evil. The love of them is. And there's a big difference there. This is starting in verse 18 of chapter 5. 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 the Lord, to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and to rejoice in his toil, this is the gift of God. And the providence of God, he gives some wealth, possessions, and power. Why does he give this to some and not to others? Why do some have plenty and others struggle all their life? I have no idea. And I'm not even going to attempt to answer that except to say that is the way that God clearly operates. The point we need to take out of this to a proper understanding of God in light of the gospel is not that we should all strive to have less, but that whatever we have is from God and in we must find enjoyment. That is a command that is simple. Be happy with what God has given you. Because He has given it to you. And it is sufficient for you. Don't be surprised when greed and want of wealth causes all manner of evil and oppression and unhappy vanity for the world. That is to be expected. Take care not to follow down those same paths. Trust in God. Trust in his provision and enjoy whatever he has given you. Starting in chapter 6, is this it is a grievous evil to receive blessings from God and not enjoy them. If a man is given a hundred children, it says, and is blessed with a long life, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things. The text says a stillborn child is better off than he. That's a shocking image of the importance of enjoying the life that God has given you. It is in fact evil if you do not. Seek first the kingdom of God. Glorify God and enjoy Him and His gifts, and surely everything else you could ever need will be graciously and abundantly added to it. I'll close again this week with the words of one commentator on this passage. He says this, in quote, spending our life pursuing wealth is not only a waste of our brief time on earth, but it will lead to a certain disaster. Instead, we ought to focus our lives on the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then we can enjoy God's gifts to us every day. Food and drink, work and health, family and friends, forgiveness and salvation. The Apostle Paul urges us, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. By the grace of God, wherever you are this morning, may we all live under that same confession that the Lord will provide. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as always for your good and gracious word to us. We thank you for the convicting nature of it, Lord. Lord, the discontentment that we can have at times, Lord, for desiring things, Lord, that you have not given us. Lord, I pray and ask that you would just help us all in this room to just enjoy you. To enjoy the things that you've given us, Lord, and just to trust that you will provide in your time for us, as you always have. Lord, may you just return us again to that simple faith of just trusting you, depending on you each and every day. We thank you most of all, Lord, for the salvation that you've given us in Christ, and in that salvation that we proclaim now through the death and resurrection of Christ that we we see through this supper, Lord. May we confess our sins to you now. I ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.