The Vanity of Money

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

the educational attainment in the United States, unquote, report, which gave the following information on the value of education. It was sent out in an encouragement to know this and to be able to encourage young people, students in particular, to get a good education. This information based on the years of education that workers 18 or older had received before starting work as adults. So again, the educational attainment in the United States report, this at least in this part of the report is the thing that they were interested in. That is how much money you make depending on what year of school you finish. So, if you have no high school diploma, your average yearly salary as of the spring 2005 in the United States, here you go, you get no high school diploma, your average yearly salary is $18,734.

Mom, okay. That’s more than I’ve made lots of years of my life, so I guess that’s not too bad. If you have a high school diploma, but that’s it, your average yearly salary is $27,915 a year. If you have a bachelor’s degree, your average yearly salary is $51,206 a year. And in the United States as of spring 2005, if you have a graduate degree, your average yearly salary is $74,602.

I can tell you that I have my graduate degree and I’m very happy with what I make. It’s not quite $74,602 a year. I’m not sure I know a lot of people who fit into any of these categories, but you know, again, this is the average that the US government determined in their Census Bureau for the spring of this very year.

What’s interesting in that is that the assumption or the belief in that is that the more money you make, the better. That is the unspoken assumption of those statistics. That the higher the number of your salary, the better your life is. In fact, whether it’s spoken, Some people are just outright shouting out loud about how money makes your life better. Other people have this kind of unspoken assumption that life with money is good, life with more money is better, life with riches is the best.

And there is no doubt in my mind that there are those of you here this morning who probably know better than to say out loud and to go up on your rooftop and shout that life is about money. I doubt that any of you would actually, you know, confess that out loud, too loudly at least. But it is an unspoken assumption still for many of us that life with money is good, life with more money is better, life with the most money is the best. I remember just a few years ago when I was speaking at the eighth grade graduation, I never remember what they call that. The eighth grade acceptance banquet, which is technically then, isn’t that technically the ninth grade acceptance banquet?

Because they’re being accepted into the ninth grade from eighth grade. Whatever you call it, it was eighth graders who were finishing eighth grade, heading off into ninth grade. And it was like three years ago, I think. So that means the current sophomores. Who knows, I’ve never been good at math, you know? So anyway, I was speaking that night, And so I was there, and one of the things that Mr. Pierce did for the Grace Academy guys moving up into high school was I guess he had them fill out a survey, and they had to say some things, and you know, a lot of it was, what are your goals for your life?

And I am certain that at least eight or nine out of ten of the ones that he read had to do with getting more money and better stuff when they got older. And I almost couldn’t believe it. I mean, I didn’t puke out my dinner all over the plate in front of me. I mean, I have learned how to control those kinds of regurgitation reactions somewhat. But I really, I had a hard time believing that what I was listening to here at a Christian school, not saying that everybody’s Christians. But what I was listening to was all of these people sharing their life goals, being about getting more money. And it’s true. I’ll mention this again later on. I didn’t go into my line of work to make a lot of money. So I mean, maybe, maybe I’m just different.

Maybe I’m, you know, the anomaly. Maybe, you know, I want to do a little, uh, Matt or whatever his name is from Saturday Night Live right now. So I’m trying to avoid that. Whatever his name is. Maybe pastors are the only ones who that’s supposed to count for that everybody else is supposed to try to get as much money in their life as possible.

But it just blew my mind that that was such a dominant thought here among the eighth graders.

Let alone, you know, those in high school already, those in college or those beyond that. That was very disappointing to me to hear kind of the revelation of where people are seeing their priorities, their values at that point. And Solomon is going to include this in his looking for life in all of the wrong places. I don’t actually think that it just has to do with the fact that I’m a pastor, that you know that’s not why I went into being a pastor and so pastors are the only ones who should not make life about money. In fact, no one is to make life about money. Not saying that it’s bad to have money more or less. It’s simply no one is to make their life about that. In chapter two, well really starting back in chapter one verse 18 we begin Solomon’s pursuit, biographical description of this pursuit to try to find meaning and satisfaction in life. Chapter one verse 12 through verse 18 we saw was the vanity of education and wisdom. I got to tell you, even listing those stats, you know, that those who have a graduate degree make more money on

average a year than those who don’t, still is not the value of education necessarily. But anyway, His first thing was the vanity of wisdom of education, then chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, the vanity of pleasure, chapter 2 verse 3, the vanity of alcohol. Then last week we looked at the vanity of work or toil in verses 4 through 6. And today we come to the vanity of money. Money, money, money, who do you love? The vanity of money, the vanity of stuff, the vanity of possessions, the vanity of wealth, the vanity of riches, you can throw in any number of terms there. For what we see in chapter 2, verse 7 through the beginning of verse 8, let me read those for us. I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also So I gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces.

Gonna look at three main points this morning. The first is his assets. As he gives us a list here of his assets, the things that were credits to him that, you know, were part of his portfolio if we were trying to make it, you know, modern sounding. His portfolio, his assets, what was in his account, how much stuff he had. If you’re looking for the bottom line here, this is how much stuff he had. How much money he had and things like that. First off, he talks about slaves. Really there’s three kinds of things. Slaves, livestock, and then precious metals. Those are the three categories of assets that he talks about.

First of all, slaves. We know that he had a bunch of stuff. In fact, last week, we looked at all of the projects that he was a part of, all those projects and all of those buildings and all of the stuff that he had required a lot of people to take care of it. He needed a lot of help. He did have a lot of wives. We’ll look at that a couple weeks from now. But probably most of his wives were not doing lots of the work. So he had need for a workforce. In fact, out of all the stuff that he had, all of the possessions that needed taken care of, all of the square footage there was to clean. Hello. You know what I’m saying?

He needed an army of servants or slaves to help him take care of it. And you know, we sometimes say, because we don’t have slaves today, at least in the United States, and that’s a good thing. I’m okay with that. I’m not saying that we need to try to, you know, get slaves for ourselves. So maybe I was trying to think, you know, what a good analogy or parallel for us would be. And the closest thing I could come up with was, you know, sometimes I say that how many keys you have shows how important you are. So, you know, like a person who’s got like a hundred keys on their key chain must be really important to need to get into that many doors.

Like they got that many things to take care of. And so the more keys that you have, the more responsibility and importance and significance you might have because you got to take care of all those things. That was the best I could come up with. But the more slaves that you had obviously was an indication of how important and how significant you were. And that’s why I’m including the slaves here as part of his assets. And so he had two kinds of slaves. He had those slaves who were bought and he had those slaves who were born. He says, verse seven, I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house.

The two different kinds, bought and born. If you look in Genesis 15, verse 13, or Genesis 17, verse 12, you’ll find that the distinction between these two kinds of slaves was something that was very common. And there’s a reason for that, why they made such a big distinction between bought and born slaves. And we find out about why that distinction so important in Exodus chapter 21 verses 2 through 11. You don’t need to turn there, I’m just giving you the background. Exodus chapter 21 verses 2 through 11 explained that if you bought a Hebrew slave, that Hebrew slave was only yours for seven years. And then at that point in time at the end of the seven years, they could decide if they wanted to then, you know, have their ear pierced with a on an anvil and a shawl. Is that what they call it? All, not a shawl.

Yeah, the all. And you know, they got that thing beat through their ear and you know, then that meant that they were with the master for the rest of their life. They had that option, but at the end of seven years, they could also choose to be free. But a slave who was born or someone who was born to a slave during those seven years was the masters. So you know, you bought slaves, and if those slaves then had children under or during the time that they were, you know, your slave, then all of the children who were born from a slave while they were serving you then were the masters forever. So I mean, you’d buy slaves, and then there would be slaves born among them, and then The ones who were born never were legally allowed to go.

And so this is a pretty helpful category then, especially if you were an owner. You would want as many slaves born in your house as possible because then they didn’t get to leave. So he had both kinds here. Bought and born slaves, male and female. He had both kinds. And the slaves, these are the first things that he mentions. Obviously, they were pretty important to him in taking care of all the different stuff that he has. He included the slaves as part of his assets. They were a commodity. They were bought and sold kind of things, and they were a symbol of his wealth and his riches. The second category of things that he mentions are livestock.

I also had great possessions of herds and flocks. At that point in time, to the average man, your wealth was measured in your livestock. The next thing that he mentions with the precious metals, not so much. Your average man, your average free man was not necessarily possessing lots of silver and gold and those kinds of things, but the average man, the working man, the working class kind of dude, he measured his wealth by his herds, his livestock. And so Solomon talks about those here. The word herds seems to refer to larger farm animals like cattle and oxen. And then the word flocks probably refers to just the smaller livestock such as sheeps and goats.

Sometimes when we think about flocks, we think about birds. And though he had birds, that’s probably not what he has in mind here.

flocks, a flock of sheep is probably what he had in mind. Sheep, goats, those kind of smaller animals, and then the herds were the bigger ones. We’ve looked at this before, but turn to 1 Kings chapter 8. You know, because when he says he had great possessions of herds and flocks, I don’t know, that really helps us, you know, get the picture of exactly how much he’s talking about. Look at 1 Kings chapter 8 verse 63. This was a special time when he was consecrating the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord. And just take a look here at this one day’s worth of offering. This was one day, one time offering. Starting in verse 62, then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord. Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. That’s a one-day special. 22,000 oxen. I don’t know if they had like any bull riding beforehand, you know, as they were getting them to the place where they were going to slaughter them, I don’t know. And 120,000 sheep. Now, that’s a lot.

Again I’m not a math major, but I know enough to know that that’s a lot. Look over at 1 Kings chapter 4 verse 23. You remember we talked about his provisions for one day. 1 Kings 4 verse 22. Solomon’s provision for one day was 30 cores of fine flour and 60 a meal 10 fat oxen and 20 pasture fed cattle, a hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks and fat and fowl. Now besides the fact that you notice no vegetables mentioned in there, you do notice that that’s a lot of meat. That’s good, but to do that every day, you know, I think we might consider it pretty extravagant to have like 10 hot dogs a day every day.

You don’t have that much meat every day. That’d be a lot. Not to say that Solomon was eating all this himself, but his kitchen was preparing on a daily basis, again, 10 oxen, 20 pasture fed cattle, 100 sheep. And that’s not to mention the deer, the gazelles, and the fattened fowl. That’s not to mention the chicken. You know, you got your beef and you got your chicken. They didn’t even, chickens don’t even rate here. They didn’t care about the chickens. You know, they’re going right for the cholesterol, the sausage, you know? No, they probably weren’t eating lots of sausage. Anyway, that’s a lot. Now, I did get out my calculator, and some of these are easier than others, but in fact, two of them are pretty easy, but that works out to 3,650 oxen a year and 7,300 cattle and 365,000 sheep every year just for dinner.

I mean, that’s a lot. Cause apparently then there’s more left over. You know what I’m saying? I mean, there’s constant breeding and more are coming. And so when he says, I had a great possession of herds and flocks. I think we could say that he meant that. Of course, to then take care of all those animals requires land. He doesn’t even include land in his possessions here. But obviously it assumes that he had enough land to provide like food for all these animals that he was fattening up so that they could be made in his kitchen so that they could be sacrificed at the temple. That’s a lot of stuff. The point here with the livestock thing is that Solomon was rich.

That’s kind of the bottom line. Well, that leads us to the third category of assets, not only slaves and livestock, but also precious metals. Verse eight, the beginning part, I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. The verb gathered there is basically regular word used not only in Hebrew but some of the other languages that simply talks about gathering stuff up simply for the sake of having it. Like not really gathering it up then to do something with it but just for sake of possessing. That’s what it talks about. We see that is motive is still the same as it was last week. I gathered for myself, you remember we really emphasized that and the three times it was used, one in each verse, four, five, and six last week.

Still the same motive, I gathered four myself, silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces. When we talk about this last part, the treasure of kings and provinces, this is at least one of the ways that he got it. The precious metals are the gold and the silver. I’ll come back to those in a second, but this last phrase is describing at least some of how he got the gold and silver, and when he says the treasure of kings, that would have been foreign tributes.

In fact, we’ll read here in just a moment how when other kings would come to see him, they would bring him treasure. So the treasures of kings. He had people coming from all over, wanting his wisdom, wanting his insight, just wanting to meet the guy. I mean he was a worldwide celebrity. And so when kings came, when the Queen of Sheba came to visit him, they all brought him great stuff. The greatest stuff from their lands, some of which at least included gold and silver. And then when it says the treasure of kings in provinces, that’s probably taxation. He divided up his area, divided up the part of Israel he was responsible for, and divided that up into districts or provinces, and they probably then owed him a tax. Well again see that in just a moment as you turn to 1 Kings chapter 10. 1 Kings chapter 10 starting in verse 14. Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold. I’ll come back to that in a moment. Besides that, which came from the explorers and from the businesses of the merchants and from all the kings of the west and from the

governors of the land. There again you have the kings and leaders of other places bringing him tributes and you have the governors over the provinces collecting the taxes. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold 600 shekels of gold went into each shield they made he’s making shields out of gold do you get that I mean okay and he made 300 shields of beaten gold three menas of gold went into each shield and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon the king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold he had a lot of gold he was doing many things with gold the throne had six steps and at the back of the the throne was a calf’s head and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests while twelve lions stood there. One on each end of the step on the six steps, the like of the like of it was never made in any kingdom. And the point of giving you all that description right there is to say that all that had gold on it. Okay, it was ivory with gold

overtop of it. Then he goes on verse 21, all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were silver. Silver was considered as was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. I mean whatever. The king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram once every three years. The fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bring in gold, silver ivory, apes, and peacocks. Okay. Then we’re here we go verse 23. Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put into his mind. Every one of them brought his presence. Articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules so much year by year.” Well let’s consider the silver first of all. We read in verse 21 that all of his drink of vessels were gold, none of them were silver. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. Let’s go over at 2 Chronicles 9 real quick.

Then we’ll come back to 1 Chronicles 10, or 1 Kings 10. 2 Chronicles 9 verse 27. Basically you get a list of all the his possessions here in this chapter as well. The description of silver in 927, the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone. That’s how much silver there was, and he had so much silver that it really wasn’t worth anything because it was like having stone. Go back to the gold in 1 Kings 10-14, those 666 talents of gold. Now as best as I could, I did some research on this, I tried to come up with some numbers, okay? In today’s market, based on what a talent weighed, breaking that down into ounces, And then taking the ounces and multiplying that by what an ounce of gold is worth today, an ounce of gold as of this morning was worth somewhere around $485 per ounce.

Okay, so figure out how many ounces are in a talent. I figure that in this one year, the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold. I figured that’s around $300 million of gold. That’s just gold. That’s not as herds and flocks and slaves and all the other stuff. That’s just of gold that came to him in one year was $300 million. I mean, that seems like a lot to me. I don’t get that in a paycheck.

Now, taking that same approach using that same formula, I do want you also to know that when his father David, King David died, he left him approximately $25 billion worth of gold in today’s market, $25 billion worth of gold just for the temple, let alone then the extra for the more personal use. He wasn’t using the 25 billion all for himself. That was for the thing. But let’s go on. That’s point number one, his assets. That’s kind of a little bit of taste. But secondly, the second major point is his net worth. And in 1 Kings chapter 10 verse 23, we don’t get a number, but we get a description. Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches.

That is, there was nobody who had more than he did. Back in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 7, at least describing the herds and the flocks, he had more than any who had been before him in Jerusalem. I mean, this was a guy with a good looking portfolio. This was, you know, this was the richest guy. at the time the richest guy. One site that I looked at and then re-figured the totals, this guy had re-figured it with just gold. And this is all that he was talking about.

He wasn’t talking about silver. He wasn’t talking about anything else. He was just talking about gold. Okay? And this does not count the gold specifically left for the temple I re-figured this guy’s number with today’s market value of gold. And if you take the amount of gold that we get described to us in 1 Kings 10.14, the 666 talents of gold a year, some of the other gold statistics that we’re told about that he got, and then you add that up for 40 years, because right that was one year and he rained for 40. So just in gold approximately $9,233,230,203,166 and some change. Now that’s just gold. That’s not anything else. Okay, that’s just the gold.

After 40 years, he perhaps collected in today’s value over, I mean, $9,233,000,000. I don’t know that we really need to go any further than that at the billions. That’s a lot. Now it’s not to say that all of that then was just left sitting in a room, you know, at the palace at the end of the 40 years. I mean, certainly he was investing that back out and he paid people and did all those other things and gave gifts and all that, but that’s just to say what he had collected, okay, before giving anything out, approximately that much gold, not to mention the other stuff. And that leads us to the third major point, which is his conclusion.

You know what it is? Vanity of vanities all is vanity. There was no satisfaction for him in $9 trillion. That’s a lot of iPods. I mean, that’s a lot of stuff. What’s that? At least a down payment you’d think. He could have and did have anything that he wanted. Look back at Ecclesiastes two. He could have and did have whatever he wanted. He said, verse nine, I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom remained with me and whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I was never a day he wanted to buy something and was like, you know what, got to wait till the 15th of the month when I get paid.

You know, do you take credit? He never said that. didn’t withhold from his owning whatever it was that he wanted and yet it was vanity and I just want to mention four things some of these are his conclusions some of these are just summarizing from some other passages as well try to give you as much from him from Solomon as possible okay but we’re going to expand it out and look at just a few other verses of Scripture as well.

Four things I think that go into Solomon’s conclusion here. Number one, money is no guarantee. Money is no guarantee. Look at chapter 2 verse 21 in Ecclesiastes, sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. You know what, you can actually make all the money you want and then you die And apparently you don’t get to take it with you. You have to leave it for somebody else. And it might be left to somebody who doesn’t even know how to work. No wisdom, no skill, no nothing. There’s no guarantee there. Look over at chapter 9 in Ecclesiastes verse 11. Again, I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent nor favor to those with knowledge but time and chance happen to them all.” And he’s not saying that God is not in control of that, he’s just saying we can’t figure out everything that God is doing and you can actually work hard all your life, you can get the best savings account, you can

imagine or hide it under your mattress, it doesn’t really matter. God is actually able to take it away in a moment. He can take away your money, he can take away your life and therefore you don’t have your money. Either way, God has plenty of ways to do it. Money is no guarantee of anything. Look back at chapter 5 verse 13 there’s 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. Just because you have money doesn’t mean that you might make one investment and gone. Now he actually gives some suggestions later on saying don’t put all your eggs in one basket. He doesn’t use that phrase. That’s, you know, our English proverb about that. But look over also at Proverbs 23, talking about the no guarantee here. Money doesn’t guarantee you anything. Proverbs 23, look at verse four, do not toil to acquire wealth. Be discerning enough to stop, to desist from trying to acquire wealth. When When your eyes light on it, it is gone.

For suddenly it sprouts wings like an eagle toward heaven, flying like an eagle toward heaven, grasping oil. You know? Can’t hold onto it. Look at Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 and 20. not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. There is no guarantee when you have money. In fact, the more money you have, the more people probably are trying to get it away from you, let alone the ways that God has to separate you from your wealth, your money, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. Lastly, look at 1st Timothy chapter 6 starting in verse 17 as for the rich in this present age charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches there is just no guarantee money is not the answer it’s not the guarantee to help you not only is money no guarantee but secondly money does not bring peace. These are connected, but perhaps a little bit different money does not bring peace.

You’d think that if you could just get enough, you attain this thing we call security, right?

You know, maybe hear your parents talk about it. We’re looking to be secure. We’re looking to have peace. Look back at Ecclesiastes 5 verse 10. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This also is vanity. Look at this. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has the 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. Because the more you get, the more you have to be worried about, not the other way around. The more you get is not the more peace you get, the more you get, the more you have to take care of, and the more you got to worry about. Look at chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, 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 that 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.

You can have all the stuff and still not enjoy it. And again, I say, the more you get generally, the more you have to worry about and take care of rather than having it bring you peace and happiness. Thirdly, and this one is is dangerous, money rearranges our focus. Money rearranges our focus. It can. I want to put an apprentices here. Money is okay and God talks about giving it to people as a blessing. It doesn’t give the same amount to everybody, some more, some less. And if God gives you the power to enjoy it at the same time, that’s a great gift. But it still doesn’t change that there are some dangers associated with money. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 8.

It was great. This morning Pastor Z talking about the second law. Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 11 says this, take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God.” Down to verse 17, “‘Beware lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of My hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth.‘” Money and riches and wealth can lead you to forget about God. You don’t need Him anymore. You got what you need. You got the money. You got the bank account. That’ll do it. You don’t need God anymore. That’s a complete misunderstanding. Look at Matthew chapter 13. Matthew 13 verse 22 in the parable of the soils. You remember this one, what was thone among thorns, this is the one who

hears the word but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches. Seeking to get satisfaction in those things, they kind of choke out, crowd out the word. One more passage for this one, 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, this time starting in verse 6.

“’Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, “‘for we brought nothing into the world.‘” And you know what? We cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. 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 the 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. And you know what it means there is you don’t even have to have the money, it’s just the love of the money. You can actually be poor as a dog and still be seeking satisfaction in what you don’t have yet in those riches and wealth. You can still have the same emptiness that Solomon has even without any money. If your love is the money, you know, That’s why this passage applies just as well to me as a pastor. I mean, I’m very happy with all that I have. I have more than I can ever use or need probably. But here Paul actually tells Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 11, asks for you, O man of God, flee these things. What is he talking about? The love of money, even to Timothy. I assume Timothy was not, you know, rich and having a big bank account, he was to flee the love of money. Money can rearrange our focus and cause us to forget God or leave him. Fourth, money doesn’t satisfy. And that the bottom line for all of this

in Ecclesiastes, money doesn’t satisfy. Thank you. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 7, again I saw vanity under the son one person who has no other either son or brother yet there is no end to all his toil and his eyes are never satisfied with riches always working always on to the next investment always looking for how he can increase his riches his eyes are never satisfied it’s never enough we read this passage as well already but chapter 5 verse 10 he who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves wealth with his income this also is vanity. Guys life is not in money. It’s not in money and too many of us have what I like this Rick Holland calls it affluenza. Instead of influenza we have affluenza. We’re so affluent, that is we have so much stuff. We’re affected with this kind of, you know, disease in that way. It’s really just sin. Think of all the sins associated with money. Coveting, jealousy, stealing, lying, greed, exploitation, extortion. Then you can add worry and anxiety. Those are just as much sins

relating to not having money as those is trying to get more money. You know You know what, I realize you don’t have herds and flocks and gold like Solomon did, but do you realize that for all of that stuff Solomon never heard the sound of a flushing toilet? Solomon never turned on a light. Solomon never rode or drove in a car. Solomon never flew in an airplane. Never got the peanuts on the airplane. You know, we’re whining and complaining. Look at that big peanuts, you know. You’re flying on a plane. Wow. A bag of peanuts is like the icing, you know? Solomon never talked on a phone. Never had a cell phone. Never text messaged anybody.

He didn’t even have dial up, let alone high speed internet access. Didn’t have on demand. No cable. No regular VHF or UHF. Definitely never had an iPod. Someone didn’t even have books. He had scrolls perhaps, but didn’t have books like we do with, there was no printing press. We have all of this stuff, and yet some, and we’re not satisfied with it, and yet we still think that, hmm, maybe if I could just get some more of this stuff or the newest version of this stuff, then I’ll be happy. And it’s not true. We have so much, yet we are not content and we are not thankful. And we know so much better, and yet we keep looking for life and stuff and money.

The guy who had it all said it was empty. I just want you to look at one more passage back in Matthew 6. Jesus tells us what our priorities ought to be. I’ll leave it with Jesus’s words, try to read the passage starting in chapter 6 of Matthew verse 25. Therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor eat nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not of more value than they?

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so closed the grass of the field, which is today alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentiles? Seek after these things. And your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. And Father help us to get that mindset, that perspective. It’s so easy with all of the stuff that we have, hardly any of us would consider ourselves rich or wealthy and yet we have so much stuff. We know that it’s empty. None of it brings us lasting satisfaction and yet somehow we keep thinking if we just get more or newer or nicer, that’ll do it. And so we spend our time and our energy devoting ourselves to this accumulation and we gather for ourselves treasures in this world and we potentially will miss out on the treasure of the next.

Where our heart is, there our treasure will be. Where our treasure is, there our heart will be. God give us understanding and a treasuring of what is beyond the sun. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.