What a Perspective!

Ecclesiastes 5:10-20

perspective. I think I’ve shared this story with you before, but when I was in the South, I used to have to fly in airplanes a lot more to get to pastors’ conferences, to get to synod events, to get to synod things I was serving on, whatever. And I always loved it when I got lucky to get a seat next to the window, and it was a clear day, and I could look down at the world way down below me. Intellectually, I knew there were all kinds of people down there who were doing all kinds of things, who were rushing around, who were getting all kinds of meaningful, important tasks done, who were stressed about one thing or another, and trying to get it finished. But from way up there, you couldn’t even see the people. It just seemed so small, so insignificant, so dare I say, was Solomon meaningless? And it’s that kind of a thought process that Solomon is wanting to get into our heads today, and that’s the whole issue of perspective. As I was reading, I read a variety of commentators on this text. Honestly, I struggled a little bit in putting this sermon together, but finally, I hope it kind of came together. Well, you can tell me after the sermon. I read one guy who said this about our work and about our wealth. He said, “It’s not enough, but it’s also not nothing.” And I kind of thought that does a pretty nice job of summarizing what Solomon is saying here in chapter 5. Our work, our money, it’s not enough, but it’s also not nothing. And Solomon goes both directions here in our text. First, it’s not enough. What does Solomon remind us of here in our text? “Whoever loves money never has enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied.” I read somewhere, I think it might have been one of the Rockefellers, maybe the first one who made the Rockefeller fortune, that somebody asked him somewhere along the way, “Well, how much money will be enough for you?” And this guy had millions and millions and millions of dollars back a long time ago, and that probably would be worth billions of dollars today, I don’t know. And his answer was interesting. He said, “I was just a little bit more.” In other words, even with his millions and millions and millions and millions, because he loved it, it wasn’t enough. And yes, I’m going to guess that none of us here has millions and millions of dollars; if one of us do, we’re hiding it very well, by the way. But the same thing happens to everyone of us, right? If I just had enough to get that new pair of shoes or that new coat or that packer’s jersey, if I just had enough to go on that vacation, if I just had enough to get that new iPhone, if I just had enough to buy that boat, if I just had enough to take that overseas trip, if I just had enough to buy that bigger house or that second house, every one of us struggles with this. Amen? We just do. And why money is such a struggle point for us human beings, probably because the love of money is a direct assault against God. Who really is our God? Is it God, or is it our pocketbook? And every one of us struggles with those first commandment issues. So it’s not enough. Of course, there’s also the other aspect of wealth, and that it can go away so fast. And oftentimes, without any other money, oftentimes without even a fault on the part of the person who had it. Sadly, we saw that these last couple of weeks here in Milwaukee, didn’t we? As people, through no fault of their own, lost hundreds, thousands of dollars worth of stuff, even complete houses, as the floodwaters came. What fault of it was it of the homeowners? None, but it’s just gone. Or people who thought they were making wise investments in something like Enron. And it turns out to be just the fraud. And they lose their retirement savings or whatever it was that they were saving for, through no fault of their own. Of course, then it’s the other side of it that there are people who get great wealth and fritter it away. We think of the people we read about, the professional athletes who made all that money during their career, and who are now bankrupt or even homeless, or the people who win the lottery, and years later are penniless. It’s not enough. And yet how often don’t we chase it? Which is perhaps why Solomon reminds us, everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. Again, as part of reading for putting this sermon together, I came across an account about Alexander the Great. You know, the great warrior who conquered this huge empire and made what was probably the biggest empire to that point in the history of the world. Rome would supplant it and become bigger. But Greece at that point was the biggest one in the world when he gave order, when he was on his deathbed, he gave orders to not do what the tradition was. The tradition was that the person who died, that their hands would be wrapped up. I don’t know what it was meant to signify, but that was their tradition. He said, “No, I want my hands to be left open.” And what was in those hands? Nothing. And so in death, this great mighty conqueror who ruled the world was no better off than the poorest servant who also had brought nothing into the world and who could take nothing out of it. That is a perspective that I need to hear, and I need to hear it over and over and over again. Because how prone I am to making achievement, to making wealth, to making that kind of stuff into my focal point. Oh, and then Solomon ends the text, and it sounds like he’s talking out of both sides of his mouth, doesn’t he? Did you catch how he ended it? This is what I find observed to be good, that it’s appropriate for a person to eat, drink, find satisfaction in their toil, slaver, and the sun. During the few days of life God has given them, for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot, be happy in their toil, this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart. Whoa. I thought he just told us that earthly wealth wasn’t enough. He did. But now he’s also telling you it’s also not nothing. That it is something. Why? Because your work, your abilities, the wealth that you have are gifts from God. And can you imagine? You get to use them to serve God. And so no matter what that work is, and of course it changes at different times in our lives, for our little ones, it’s mostly schoolwork and helping at home, chores, things like that. As we get into youth, it becomes more also part-time jobs, along with school, comes other things. As we get into adulthood, of course, it’s some sort of a career, some sort of occupation, some sort of meaningful job. As we get into retirement, it’s going to adjust to doing volunteer work and whatever you’re able to do. But whatever it is, it’s God’s gift to you. And when you recognize it’s God’s gift to you, you get to use those abilities. And when you recognize that the money, the income, the wealth that God has chosen to give to you are gifts from God, you get to use those things. You neither have to hoard them because you’re afraid, nor are you going to use them frivolously because they’re not really yours, they’re God’s, and so you want to use them wisely, but you get to use them. And you get to use them to do the work of God, you get to do them to pursue desires that you have, pleasures you have to pursue the good of society, you get to use them because they’re gifts of God. And so yeah, while it’s true that money and work isn’t enough, it’s also not nothing. When kept in the proper perspective, they’re wonderful gifts of God to his people. Can you imagine? All this stuff belongs to God, and yet what has he done? He’s put a portion of his stuff into your hands to manage and take care of and enjoy. What a privilege that God would trust me with anything is crazy. That God trusts me with as much as he’s trusted me with is astounding grace. And so it’s not nothing, it’s something. Oh, and then there’s one more perspective. Did you catch how Solomon referred to our life in this section? He referred to it as the oh so short period of time, the few days of our life under the sun. And that statement is oh so true, but it is oh so not true. The way Solomon is using it is oh so true. You and I are going to live on this earth for a really, really, really short time. Just think about it. How many people can you name from 200 years ago? Not very many. How many people do you think will be able to name us 200 years from now? I’m guessing pretty much nobody. Our life here is oh so short, that’s true. But I am the resurrection and the life, Jesus says. Whoever lives and believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Oh, your life is not short. Your life is forever. Because Jesus died for you, because Jesus rose for you, because Jesus opened up heaven for you on the day that your physical eyes close in death. You will open those eyes in the glories of heaven, and you will not have died, not the real you. The real you will keep on living. And knowing that I’m eternal, knowing that I’m part of the kingdom of God, and I’m going to live forever with Jesus in the mansions of heaven, oh what a perspective that brings to me in regards to work, in regards to wealth. Yeah, I get to enjoy those things while I’m here on this earth. Yeah, I’m going to work at that stuff while I’m here on this earth, but it doesn’t need to consume me, because this world is oh so short. But even as I find joy and satisfaction in my work, I know that I’m going to find way more joy, way more satisfaction. And I did when I get to the mansions of eternity. And that, my brothers and sisters, that is an amazing perspective to have. Amen? And amen.