The Ruin of Riches

Take your Bible and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter five. Ecclesiastes chapter five. During these winter months, it is quite common for people of all ages to suffer from influenza. You know what influenza is. It's commonly called the flu. And it comes rather suddenly, quickly, without warning. You begin to sniffle, your nose begins to run, headaches come, body aches come, fevers come, chills can come, and if you're lucky, there'll be vomiting involved, even diarrhea. Influenza is quite a viral infection.

It's a seasonal infection, but it does come. It's experienced by most of us. It affects children as well as adults. In fact, some people die. The statistics are an average of 47,000 people die each year from influenza. 200,000 of them are hospitalized. It affects children, teenagers, as well as adults. Most people will get better on their own. 48% of adults over the age of 18 get the flu shot every year. 47% of those under 18 get the flu shot every year. And still, they come down with some form or another of the flu, influenza.

But there is another infection that doesn't come suddenly, but comes gradually over time. It too is an ailment. It is not a viral ailment, but it is a vile ailment. And for the most part, some don't even know they have it. And it's not seasonal, it's perpetual, it's continual. It happens all throughout your life. Most Americans have at least a mild case of this vile ailment. Interesting, it does not affect children. It only affects those who are older teenagers. It really begins to affect those in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.

In fact, it grows with an ever-increasing vileness the older you get. Say, well, what is this vile ailment? How does it compare to influenza, the viral ailment? This ailment is called afluenza. Do you know what afluenza is? It is the relentless pursuit of affluency, of wealth, of money. And some would say, well, I don't have afluenza. It doesn't come upon you suddenly, it comes upon you gradually over time. And it begins to affect you, infect you as you grow older. And some would say, well, I don't have that.

Well, let me ask you this question. You can be the kind of person who is grateful for the things that you have, but you tend to think more about the things you don't have than the things that you do have. You have contacted afluenza. You might be the kind of person that goes through life, but all of a sudden there is this sudden pang of discontentment that overcomes you because there's something that you want, but you cannot afford it. And maybe you will embark on purchasing it anyway and go into great debt because you did.

You have been infected with afluenza. You say, well, how dangerous is it really? Well, Solomon will tell you in our verses this evening, some get angry, some get sick. Some become lonely, some become bitter. And you might say, well, that's not that big a deal. Can you die from it? Yes, you can. There have been people that are so infected with afluenza that they can't live with themselves anymore because they can never obtain enough and they commit suicide. So yes, you can die from afluenza. It does happen.

Doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen. And you can't get a pill, take a shot, go to CVS or Walgreens and buy some over-the-counter medicine that will take away afluenza. The only thing that remedies afluenza is Jesus Christ, our Lord, the all-sufficient God of the universe whose grace is sufficient in everything. That is the only remedy. This ailment is so infectious, it can ruin your life. That's the title, the ruin of riches. I should have entitled it the atrocities of afluenza, but no one would know what I was talking about unless you came this evening.

But the ruin of riches, we don't like to think that riches will ruin us. We tend to think that riches will relieve us from all kinds of stress and difficulty. Oh, have you got that wrong? We think that our riches will relax us in order for us to sit back and take it easy and not have to work as hard any longer. Or we think that our riches will reward us with fame and power and success. We don't like to think of riches as ruining us, but they do. In fact, Paul would say these words in 1 Timothy chapter six.

He would say, those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Some would say and ask, does affluenza have an effect on eternity? It can, it did for the rich young ruler. It affected his eternal destiny. And I think it's quite interesting that Solomon would put this section in Ecclesiastes chapter five, right after the section on worship.

I think that how the Lord orchestrates the wording and the paragraphs and the ideas in scripture all tend to flow together. And some commentators just think, well, it's just this section versus that section. And they're just put out there by great Solomon the wise. But no, I think there was a method to his madness. I think that he knew that our worship is hindered because we serve other gods. Talks about guarding your steps as you go to the house of worship, right? Make sure that you're responsible because when you get there, you need to be ready to draw near and to listen.

And you gotta be reluctant to bring up things in the presence of the Lord and be resistant to sin against the Lord, why? Because you have to be reverent, you have to fear God. And what keeps you from fearing God are those things of the world that draw us away from God. And so he begins to put these things into order. So we, as the people of God can learn from the preacher himself as he begins to instruct us in the ways of his wisdom. And who better to listen to than Solomon? His annual income was 20 million just in gold.

Read first Kings three, first Kings 10. His drinking vessels were made out of pure gold. I feel glad when I can take a plastic solo cup and drink from that and then throw it away. That makes me happy. But Solomon had pure gold drinking vessels, pure gold utensils. Can you imagine that? Cutting steak with a gold knife and a gold fork. And maybe he was so rich he could just discard them at will and not even do the dishes because he would just make more out of gold. That's the kind of, he was filthy rich.

So if anybody's gonna talk to us about the ruin of riches, it would be a guy who had more than anybody else ever had. He would speak from experience. He would speak from a wealth filled with all kinds of knowledge when it came to riches. He knows. He doesn't have to ask anybody. He lives it. He lives in wealth. He's enveloped in gold. And yet he has some very wise words to say about the ruin of riches. Seneca, the great Roman philosopher, said these words. Money has never yet made anyone rich. Great words.

Money has not yet ever made anyone rich. Because what are true riches? Isn't it interesting that Solomon would already have addressed this? The passage that we're studying on our perspective of parenting nights. Once a month, Proverbs 24, three and four, by wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Here is the world's wealthiest man telling us that true riches come from wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

In fact, the riches fill the rooms of the house. He would say earlier in Proverbs, the third chapter, these words, Proverbs chapter three, verse number 13, how blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding for her profit, that is wisdom's profit, is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold.

Now who would know that better than Solomon, the richest man who ever lived? He would know that. He would go on to say, she, wisdom, is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are all who hold her fast. Seneca was right. No amount of money will ever make you rich, but wisdom, knowledge, and understanding gives you more than you could ever imagine when it comes to the riches of life.

One man has said these words, because so often we struggle in the area of money and so we seek to earn more and more and more. We frantically push, struggle, fight to do all we can to just get a little bit more. And one man said, we frantically try to earn enough to buy things that we are too busy to enjoy. Think about it. We work frantically to buy more, but we're too busy to enjoy them. But we still have to have more. We can never get enough because we're never satisfied. That's because riches don't satisfy.

But the problem is we think that they do. We think if I just had a little bit more. So let me ask you a question.

The last time you got a raise at work, what went through your mind? First thing that went through your mind when you got a raise.

The first thing that went through your mind when you finally got the job you wanted. What was the first thing that went through your mind?

It was like, ah, now I can buy this. Oh, now I can afford this. Think about it. But let me tell you why God gives you a job.

And let me tell you why God gives you a raise. You know why God does that? So that you'll give more away. How do I know that? Ephesians chapter four says this. Verse 28, he who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with the one who has a need. Whole new perspective on work. Whole new perspective on your raise. Next time you get a raise, you should say, wow, now I can give more to those who are in need.

But we don't think that way. Why? We just think, man, I can buy this and I can do this and I can, there's just so much more I can do. We're not saying there's just so much more people I can help. There's more money I can give away. There's more money I can give to the Lord. We don't think that way. That's because we suffer from affluenza. See, the pursuit of affluence, the desire for more, to be rich financially. So Solomon will deal with that. So if you have your Bible, Ecclesiastes chapter five, verse number eight, we'll read down through verse number 20.

If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight. For one official watches over another official and there are higher officials over them. After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. You need to underline that in your Bible. If you don't highlight things in your Bible and you don't underline them in the Bible, you should get in the habit of doing that.

But you should underline this one especially. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income, this too is vanity. In fact, underline the whole verse. It's really good. When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to the owners except to look on? The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep. There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun.

Riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. In fact, when those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him. As he had come naked from his mother's womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. This also is a grievous evil. Exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind? Throughout his life, he also eats in darkness and great vexation, sickness and anger.

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life, which God has given him for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.

Four things I want you to see about the rule of riches. One is morally, the other is personally, the next is emotionally, and the last is spiritually. Note that money is all moral, yet loving money is extremely dangerous. Money in and of itself is just money. It's neither good nor bad. What makes it bad is your love for the money, your desire for the money. There are many rich people in the Bible. God made them rich. God gave Solomon his wealth, right? Solomon asked for wisdom and God gave him wealth and wisdom.

Wow, what a lucky guy. Abraham, he was rich. You can go through the Bible, read about Job. He was rich. There's nothing wrong with riches when given by God to you, but longing and loving riches. Well, that's where the ruin comes. That's where we need to be very, very careful. And so there are four areas that Solomon addresses that cause ruin. Morally, it can cause defilement. Personally, it will cause dissatisfaction and disappointment. Emotionally, it will cause devastation and spiritually, it can cause defeat.

So we need to be aware. So Solomon begins to address it from a perspective of the political regime. He says very easily and very carefully, if you see oppression of the poor, and we do see the oppression of the poor, and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at what you see. Why wouldn't we be shocked? Because this is the way things are. For one official watches over another official, and there are higher officials over them. In other words, there is this punishment of the poor by the rich.

Whether they want to do it or whether they don't want to do it, there is this oppression toward the poor. We're not talking about poor people who just decide they don't wanna work anymore. Paul makes it very clear, if you don't work, you don't eat, right? So we're not talking about those kind of people. We're talking about the needy people. In fact, James was talking about in James chapter one, right? The true religion and undefiled before the Father is this, that you visit the widows and orphans in their affliction and keep oneself unspotted from the world.

What does it mean to visit the widows and orphans in their affliction? Widows and orphans are symbolic of poor people in the Old Testament. People who were not wealthy, who didn't have much. And visiting them doesn't go by their house and say, how are you doing? Good to see you, hello. No, visiting would mean to incorporate some kind of meeting of the needs that they have. So true religion and undefiled before the Father is this, that you see the need and meet the need of those who are less fortunate than you are.

That's why God gave you a job. You thought it was for to provide for your family. Well, it is, but he gave you a job so you would help those who have less than you do. That's why he gave you a raise. He wants to see what you're gonna do with the extra money that you have to make sure that your priorities are right, that you're not infected with a fluenza, but that you're able to overcome that because you're satisfied with Christ and Christ alone. The Lord has a lot to say about the poor. In fact, over in Psalm chapter 12 verse number five, the Psalmist says, because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groanings of the poor, now I will arise, says the Lord.

I will set him in the safety for which he longs. Later in Psalm 72 verse 12, for he will deliver the needy when he cries for help. The afflicted also in him who has no helper. He will have compassion on the poor and needy and the lives of the needy he will save. He will rescue their life from oppression and violence and their blood will be precious in his sight. Proverbs chapter 22 verse number 16. He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself or who gives to the rich or who gives to the rich will only come to poverty.

Solomon will already speak to this issue. And he knows about the oppression of the poor. He knows about the perversion of justice and righteousness in the political regime and how things work in government and how the rich just get richer and the poor just get poorer. And people who are in this pursuit of climbing over the other one on top of them only oppress the poor and you become morally defiled. Because the affluenza is a vile ailment. It only accentuates our passion of discontentment. It only accentuates our drive for personal satisfaction.

It only moves us further away from God, not closer to. To God. Proverbs 19 verse number 17. Solomon says, one who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his good deeds. That's just a great verse. When you see a poor man and you meet the need, you're really truly lending not to that man, but to the Lord and the Lord will make sure you get repaid. How he does that, I don't know. That's up to him. But the verse is there and Solomon knows it. And I'm not sure how well Solomon was versed in dealing with the poor people in Jerusalem.

I don't know. But he speaks a lot about it. So we would understand the importance of meeting the needs and not learning to profit one from another. Proverbs 11 verse number 24 says this. Proverbs 11 verse number 24. There is one who scatters and yet increases all the more. And there is one who withholds what is justly due and yet it results only in want, only wanting more. The generous man will be a prosperous man. And he who waters will himself be watered. He withholds grain, the people will curse him.

But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. So Solomon says from a personal perspective, you need to watch out for how you obtain your wealth, how you position yourself to obtain more wealth as those in government, in the province and how they oppress the poor and pervert justice and pervert righteousness by pushing themselves up further the ladder that they might gain all the more. Be careful because it's morally defiling. And then he says this. He says, personally, you'll only be dissatisfied.

Verse number 10, he who loves money will not be satisfied with the money nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity, complete and total vanity, emptiness, futile. Now who would know better than Solomon who had it all? And yet we just don't believe him, do we? We don't believe him. And we still have this relentless pursuit for more, to get more. For our own benefit. Never really, truly satisfied. Solomon never attacks those who happen to have money. He just attacks those who love to get money.

That's important to understand. Because you see, money can purchase some things but it cannot purchase the right things. For example, money can buy you a bed but it cannot buy you sleep. Think about it. Money can buy you a bed but it cannot buy you sleep. Money can buy you pleasure but it cannot buy you peace. Money can buy you medicine but it cannot buy you health. Money can buy you a companion but it cannot buy you a friend. And money can buy you a watch, but money cannot buy you time. Money can buy you a house, but it cannot buy you a home.

Money can buy you a crucifix, but money cannot buy you a savior. Money can buy you lots of things, but it cannot buy you the things that matter. I wish we could understand that. I think a lot of us could sing along. You remember the musical, The Greatest Showman? It came out in 2017. It's the fifth highest grossing musical movie ever. And in there, there's a song that signifies affluenza. And in there, there's a song that's sung by the character, Jenny Lin, as she performs in New York. The song is entitled, Never Enough.

And it symbolizes her relationship with P.T. Barnum, and P.T. Barnum's relationship with his wealth and pursuit. Of his wealth. And the song, you probably know it well, you probably sing it in the shower. All the shine of a thousand spotlights and all the stars we steal from the night sky will never be enough. Never be enough. Towers of gold are still too little. These hands could hold the world, but it will never be enough. No, never, ever, ever be enough. Most of us could sing that without any guilt, because we're never satisfied.

But Solomon says, look, it doesn't satisfy. It doesn't make you rich. It doesn't meet the deepest needs that you have. It'll buy you many things, but it won't buy you anything that matters. There's only one that satisfies, and that's the Lord Christ himself. Solomon said in Psalm 103, verse number five, he satisfies your years with good things. Psalm 107, verse number nine, he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness, with goodness. It's important to realize that Paul says to young Timothy, that he needs to flee affluenza.

Say, where does it say that? In first Timothy six, verse number 11. Paul's talking about the love of money, and how many have pierced themselves with many griefs. And some of us are thinking, well, I would like to be pierced with some of those griefs. I think I can handle it, but you can't. And so Paul says to Timothy, flee, but flee from these things, you man of God. Flee from the love of money. Flee from affluenza. The aspiration to be affluent. Run the other way, you man of God. Because a man of God doesn't run toward money, but runs away from the love of money.

And he pursues something else. He pursues, as Paul says, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Instead of pursuing affluenza, becoming more and more affluent, pursue the things that matter. Pursue righteousness, pursue faith, pursue gentleness, pursue the things that really last for eternity, Timothy, because you're a man of God. That's what men of God do. So important, because Solomon says, personally, it only causes dissatisfaction. Money is no magic cure-all, because it can't.

So Solomon says, when good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? To sleep with the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep. The working man plows his field, who does his job, goes home, eats, goes to bed. Gets up the next day, goes back to work. The daily grind of doing what it is he does comes back, eats of the fruit of his labor, goes to sleep.

But the rich man, as his riches increase, they begin to increase all the more. Oh, he eats, and he's fat, but he doesn't sleep very well, because with that comes a whole bunch of other grief, responsibilities, worries, things that may or may not happen. They rob you of peace of mind, because there's no satisfaction in riches. And even though Solomon says that, and even though Paul says it, and even though Jesus speaks more about money in his parables than anything else, we still don't believe it.

We still have that vile ailment infecting us. Affluenza, it doesn't stop, unless we become content with what we have. So morally, it can bring defilement. Personally, it will bring dissatisfaction and disappointment. Emotionally, it will bring devastation. He says in verse number 13 of chapter five, these words, he says, there is a grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun, riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. Oh, how can he be hurt by hoarding riches, by gathering more, by building bigger barns, and more barns, and filling them to the brim?

How can that ever hurt him? When those riches were lost through a bad investment, he had fathered a son, and there was nothing to support him. How does, or how do riches ruin me emotionally when you rely on the certainty of riches, instead of relying on the Lord himself? See, this man would hoard his money, he would store it up, he would save it for his son, but made a bad investment, lost it all, now he has nothing, because what he did was trust in his riches, trust in his riches. Listen to Proverbs 11, 28.

He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf. He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind. In other words, when you trust in riches, you're just going to trouble your very own house. Does it help? What did Job say? Job in chapter 31, said, if I have put my confidence or trust in gold, and called fine gold my trust, if I have gloated because my wealth was great, and because my hand had secured so much, if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon going in splendor, and my heart became secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, that too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment, for I would have denied God above.

Job knew. He was a rich man, and he knew the effect of riches upon him emotionally. It devastates you when you don't rely, or when you rely on them instead of relying upon God, and number two, when you refuse to accept not just the brevity of life, but the temporary nature of wealth.

Look at verse number 15. He says these words. As he had come naked from his mother's womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. This also is a grievous evil. Exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So that what is the advantage to him who toils? For the wind. You came into the world with nothing. You leave with nothing. We forget that. And life is very, very brief. It doesn't last very, very long. And so when you die, and you will, none of what you have labored to earn is going with you.

You're gonna leave it behind for somebody else. And they'll probably misappropriate all your funds. So what difference does it make? That's why he says this is a grievous evil under the sun. When you refuse to accept the brevity of life, not living forever, it's only for a brief time. I thought about that the other day. I'm gonna be 67 years old. I realized, man, my life is just so short. I don't have another 67 years. I'm not gonna live to be 130 plus. Nobody does anymore, right? I don't have that much longer.

And I realized, wow, life is just so short. It's brief. It's a vapor. It's a breath. It's here today and gone tomorrow. Why should we allow it to be infected by influenza when there are so many other things we could be doing for the sake of eternity? And then he says, this is where it affects you emotionally tremendously. He says, throughout his whole life, or throughout his life, he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness, and anger, bitterness. Loneliness, sadness. He hoards all this money.

He builds it up. He loses it, not realizing his life is brief. It's gonna be gone. He can't sleep. But he makes an investment and loses everything. Becomes angry, irritable, frustrated. Think about your marriages. What is the one thing that causes friction in a marriage? You don't have enough. Somebody misspends that, misappropriates it. Spends too much. She says, why don't you make more, honey? He says, why don't you go to work, honey? Says, because you gave me children, honey. And you say, so? And you had this battle that goes on in the family because you never have enough, thinking that if we just had a little bit more, we'd be satisfied.

But all it does is devastate you emotionally. You fight, you bicker, you bellyache, get angry, frustrated. You can't sleep, you can't rest. That's what affluenza does. It ruins us emotionally, morally, personally. It also ruins us spiritually. He says these words. Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting to eat and to drink and to enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life, which God has given him for this is his reward. This is Solomon's summation.

He says, listen, when you don't rejoice in what God has given you, you're defeated spiritually. He says these words. All the things that you have, God has given you. In verse 19, he says he gives you riches, he gives you wealth. But when you don't rejoice in what God has given you, you're on your way to spiritual defeat because you're not recognizing that it's God who gave it to you. That's what he says in verse number 19. When he says these words, furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God.

God grants you the gift to go to work, to make money, to be able to live within your means, and he gives you what he gives you in his sovereign grace. And when you don't rejoice over that or recognize that, you will be on your way to spiritual defeat because you would say that God has not given me enough, and God in his sovereignty doesn't know enough, and God in his omnipotence is not powerful enough to take care of my every want, but he is. He supplies all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus.

Not out of his riches in Christ Jesus, but according to his riches in Christ Jesus. In other words, when God supplies your needs, he's not giving out of his riches, so he's depleting them. He gives you according to his riches because he is so filled with wealth that matters. And he blesses his people. And so, when we don't rejoice in what God has given to us, and when we don't recognize that he is a source of all that he has, and that I'm a steward of what he's given to me, I'm on my way to spiritual defeat.

And lastly, when we don't realize that our future is in God's hands, for he says in verse number 20, for he will not often consider the years of his life because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart. In other words, he doesn't worry about tomorrow. Doesn't worry about the years of his life because God puts gladness in his heart for that very moment. That's what God does. If we don't realize that, and realize how intricately involved God is in our lives, then we are on our way to spiritual defeat.

Riches, in and of themselves, are amoral. But when you love them, they will ruin you. In one way or another, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they certainly kept the rich young ruler out of glory because he could not serve another God. Because his riches were his God. That's why the Lord said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into glory. Why? The trust factor, the belief factor, the denial factor. Everything that makes the Christian, the Christian, willing to throw himself upon God and his mercy and his grace to allow him to fill his every need.

My prayer for you and me is that God would cure us from affluenza, that we would learn to be content with those things in which he has given us. Knowing that we brought nothing into this world, we will take nothing out of this world. And so Solomon, once again, strikes a nerve. And when we move on to chapter six next week, he will strike yet again another nerve in all of our lives. Because the soul that longs to be satisfied under the sun will always remain unsatisfied. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for tonight.

The chance you give us to spend a few moments in your word, we are grateful. Our prayer, Father, is that you'd go before us and pave the way. May our lives reflect the glory of our king. May we not be overcome with longing for that which we do not have. May we be the kind of people that are grateful for what you've given to us. And stop thinking about the things that we don't have and rejoice in the things that we do have. Realizing that you gave them to us. They're gifts of the goodness and kindness of your character.

May we live for your glory until you come again, our Lord, as you most surely will. In Jesus' name, amen.