June 14, 2026 | A Wealth of Wisdom

A Wealth of Wisdom | Ecclesiastes 5:11-6:2

Ecclesiastes 5:10–20

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who 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.

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 father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As 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 also is 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 in 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. Everyone also to whom God 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 joy 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 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. (ESV)

In “A Wealth of Wisdom,” Jon Farra teaches from Ecclesiastes 5:10–20 that money is a good gift from God, but a terrible place to put our hope. Solomon warns that loving money only creates a hunger for more, while savings, investments, legacy, and profits can all be lost or left behind. The sermon calls believers to work hard, trust the Lord, give freely, and hold possessions with open hands. True joy does not come from controlling wealth, but from receiving God’s blessings with gratitude and enjoying the work and life He has given.

Transcript of A Wealth of Wisdom | Ecclesiastes 5:11-6:2

Jon Farra: Children, you are dismissed if you would like to slip out the back, or anyone else who needs a quick break. We are glad to, continue through the Book of Ecclesiastes this morning. Pastor Jed is, on the better side of surgery, healing a bit. I actually don't know where he is this morning.

He's not s- oh, there he is. He's not sitting in his regular spot, so he is, It is good to hear God's good work, through that process.

Reading Ecclesiastes 5-6:2

Jon Farra: Let's start going back to the text. Ecclesiastes, I'm actually gonna go back to chapter, the beginning of chapter five because it frames it a little bit, but we're gonna be, 5:11 through 6:2 today.

So let's go back to the text. "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know what they are doing is evil. Do not be rash with your m- mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth.

Therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes with much, business and a fool's voice with many words. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in repaying it, for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than you should vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. Do not say before the messenger, 'That is a mistake.'

Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity, but God is the one who you must fear." But God is the one who you must fear.

Verse eight, "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 high official is watched by a higher, and there is one yet higher over them. But this is gain for a land in every way, a king committed to cultivated fields."

Verse 10, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor w- with the love, wealth with his, that the income brings. This is also a vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with their eyes?

Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats much or little, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun. Riches kept by their own owners to his hurt. And those riches were lost in bad venture, and he has a father, he fathers a son, but he has nothing in his hand.

As he who comes from the mother's womb, so he shall go again. Naked he came, and he will take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil, but as he who comes, so shall he go. And what gain is he who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days will be eaten in darkness and in much vexation, sickness, and anger."

Now verse 18, this is kind of the thesis statement. "Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil, with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life, for God has given to him; for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil, this is a gift of God.

For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy upon mankind. A man of whom God has given wealth and possession and honor, so that he lacks nothing all his days, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them.

This is vanity; it is a grief, grievous evil."

Prayer

Jon Farra: Let's go back to prayer. Father, we want to trust you with our lives, all of it, and this particular one talks about finances or wealth or the collection of things. We could substitute a dollar bill for our health or good relationship or, wisdom or so many other things that we strive after.

So I pray, Father, that we would be honoring to you with our dollars as well as our love of you instead of our love of dollars, and I pray, Father, that, your Word would edify us today. We pray specifically that we would fear the Lord and not man, and we pray specifically that this thesis statement here, we would be filled with the joy that you give us in our hearts.

So thank you for one another, thank you for the, teaching through the Book of Ecclesiastes, and may your will be done. Amen.

Who Do You Seek Advice From?

Jon Farra: All right. Did we pair a teaching on finances with a business meeting on purpose? No, it just happens to fall that way. And it is a good picture, as Pastor Jed has been referencing over the whole Book of Ecclesiastes, the vanity of striving for something that you think you can hold onto and you think you can control.

Actually, Pastor Jed gave us a word picture of, being on the back of a ski tube last week and the anxiety of holding on. Well, the next day we went on a ski tube, and I was feeling the anxiety of holding on to something and, and, and yet it's not what you desire, but it's rather seek first the kingdom of God. So that's kind of where we've been.

I want to talk about... I want to lead with a few questions today. And, I would like to ask you, who do you like to take advice from? Do you have a favorite podcast? Do you have a book? Do you have an author? Do you have a person who you would say, "When that person talks, I listen"?

Tell somebody right now who you enjoy taking advice from. Go ahead and whisper to each other right now.

A little bit more of a focused question. Who do you like taking financial advice from? Dave Ramsey. Okay, has anybody heard of Dave Ramsey? Yeah. All right, Dave Ramsey talks about act your wage, kind of, you know, be responsible with your dollars. Robert Kiyosaki talks about investing or pursuing assets. There's many, many financial authors. 

Who can best teach you the value of a dollar? So one of the, one of the gentlemen that stands at the end of the road holding out a sign asking for dollars, right here by Target, his name is Josh. I've-- I run down that road, and I have seen him many times, and we know each other on a first name basis. And actually, I asked him one day if he wanted a backpack because I was gonna take one of my old backpacks and give it to Carm, and he's like, "Sure." So I actually ran home and got a backpack and gave him a few clothes, and he said thank you to me. His name's Josh.

Maybe on the other side of the continuum was reading the newspaper the other day, and the Haslam family gave $130 million to the University of Tennessee, and they put their name on the building and all the rest.

Who can better teach you the value of a dollar? Is it Josh or is it the Haslam family? I'm not suggesting that one is better than the other, but it does draw up in your mind what does it mean to have dollars and what does it mean to value them?

And then the last question is, who's the best person to help you trust the Lord for your finances? I will use a testimony and say I have been at Berean Bible Church for 20 years now, and I am deeply grateful for the men and women in this building who have been good financial counselors and wise with dollars. Praise God for that.

Solomon's Wealth, Wisdom, Worship, and Women

Jon Farra: This, this thread is to go back to Solomon. So Solomon was probably one of the wealthiest or the wealthiest person of all time. So when you teach middle schoolers kind of about the life of Solomon, you use words like... We use WWWW to define his life: wealth, worship, wisdom, and women. Those four Ws defined the life of Solomon. But Solomon was significantly wealthy. In fact, in a few place in, 1 Kings, it says that the... there was so much silver at the time in Israel during his reign, it was like stones outside. It was like gravel. There was that much wealth under the wisdom of Solomon.

And God specifically said in 1 Kings chapter 3 god came to Solomon, who is writing this book of Ecclesiastes, and says, "What is it that you want?" God appeared to Solomon and say, "What do you want? I will give you something. Just ask for it." And his answer is verse nine, 1 Kings 3:9, "Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may be- discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern your great people?"

So if God were to appear to you and say, "Give-- I will give you anything you want," would your answer be wisdom? Would your answer be discernment? Solomon's was.

Now, to use some vernacular that's not in the text, God says, "Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Good answer, Solomon. Not only will I give you wisdom, I will also give you..."

It says, "It pleased the Lord that Solomon asked Him. And God said to him, 'Because you have asked for this and have not asked for long life or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is rich... ' Or excuse me, ' ... what is right, therefore I will do according to your word.

Behold, I will give you wisdom and a discerning mind, so that none may be like you before or after. And I will also give you what you have not asked for, riches and honor as well as long life if you walk in my ways.'" So he does say discernment to rule your people. He also grants him wealth and honor and the long life if he walked right.

So is it interest-- with that backdrop of who Solomon is, which we've heard this story likely many times, with that background of one of the richest people ever, does it surprise you that Solomon is saying the pursuit of wealth is vanity? The pursuit of wealth is trying to catch the wind. The pursuit of wealth is a vapor or a mist.

That's what the Hebrew word presses into, that word picture of trying to control something you can't control. We've been talking about many things through the Book of Ecclesiastes. This one tends to be specifically around money and wealth.

God gives us these-- God gives us tools like dollars, like wisdom, like pleasure, like many things. But when we go after it and try to control it and our love shifts from the love of the Lord to the love of that thing, that is vanity.

God is God, and You Are Not

Jon Farra: Also in chapter five, Pastor Jed reflected a few weeks ago about, walking prudently into the house of God. It says, "Don't be rash with your words. Don't be rash with your words, your promises, or even your dreams, for God is in heaven and you are on earth."

God is sovereign. We struggle with that word to know what it means when we say God is sovereign. It means that God is in control. God is in heaven, and we are on Earth.

I was recently in the, in the, Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and they had this picture of the light spectrum. So that little sliver is all of the light spectrum that we can see.

So there's gamma rays and X-rays and ultraviolet rays, and then there's what we can see, and then there's all these other things, radar, all the way down to shortwave AM/FM signals.

Imagine we could see everything. Imagine we could see the whole light spectrum instead of just the little sliver. Would that overwhelm us? I would venture a yes. So God gives us what is good for us. So we say things like, "God is in heaven, and we are on Earth," and we say words like, "God is sovereign." That's right and good. And we use words like omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, all-loving. God is all of those things.

By the way, I am not omniscient. I'm not all-knowing. I got beat yesterday in Memory by my four-year-old. She not only outplayed me in the game Memory, she felt sorry for me and then started to say, "Dad, pick that one and pick that one." She's four. I'm like, "I, I, o- okay, I clearly I'm either..." Well, good, good job, Laurel. She's not even old enough to be in this room right now, and she can outplay me in memory. God is sovereign. We are not.

Or your child is... You're in the grocery store at 4:30 PM, and you're buying groceries for dinner, and you have a big plan, and your child asks for some candy or some bag of M&M's. And you say, "No, not right now." And he or she falls down on the floor and cries and throws a fit. That doesn't happen in my household, of course. I've heard of people like... No, it does.

So this child wants this specific thing, and you as a parent are thinking, well, you're gonna eat dinner soon and don't wanna ruin your appetite. Maybe your mind goes to dental bills or whatever else, whatever other adult thoughts you may have, and this child just wants this little sliver. And you as a parent are saying, "No, that's not best for you right now."

Every now and then, do you say, "Sure, we'll try it," or the parent is good, the parent is loving, but the parent does not give the child everything they want on the spot. We as adults say that's good and healthy for us being parents to children. How do we handle that with God?

So God is in heaven, we are on earth. God is sovereign. God is good. However, to quote C.S. Lewis, "God is not tame." God does not give us the things we say we want in the order we say we want it, sometimes because it's not our best.

All right, let's go to the text for today All right. Verse 10. Oh, sorry, lost my place.

See, this is a physical Bible with physical pages, not one of those, you know, apps and computers and something like that, so I gotta turn pages.

Wealth and Wisdom

Jon Farra: All right, verse 10, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income: this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eats them? And what advantage has it for their owner but to see with their eyes?"

All right. The first warning here, there's a number of warnings or dangers in these texts, and then there's kind of a response. We know where we wanna get to. We know that we wanna trust God and be free to give and be free to love and work hard, but there are a number of challenges or warnings in the text. And it's kind of like, "Okay, I'll try this. Okay, that didn't work. Okay, I'll try this. Okay, that didn't work. Okay, I'll try this. That didn't work." So Solomon goes through a number of iterations and weirdly enough, they apply to all of our lives today.

The Love of Money is Endless

Jon Farra: So the first one is, I just want more money. Okay. Let me start with a simple question. How many of you would like more money? How many of you who don't have a job yet wish you could make money? All right. Fantastic. Now let me use the wisdom of this room. How many of you are old enough to say money's not gonna solve your problems? All right. It's good to look around and learn from each other.

So Solomon specifically says, "When you love money, you will never be satisfied with it." How many dollars does Warren Buffett want or Donald Trump or, w- whoever rich person you have in your mind? How much do they want? Well, just a little bit more. One more.

In fact, First Timothy chapter six warns us that the love of money is the root of evil or the root of many evils. So it's not the dollar that the problem is, it's the love of the dollar, or I will exchange something for that dollar. That becomes a root of evil. Let me caution you that it's often easier to see that in other people's lives than your own.

So when goods increase, they increase who eat it. so pro athletes, here's a quick example. in the NFL, according to quick Google searches, the minimum contract for this coming twenty twenty-six NFL football player will be eight hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars. The minimum player will get eight hundred and eighty-five thousand this coming NFL year. So when you see that huddle of people, you need to think they're all millionaires. Is that wrong? That's not the point of this. We can have that talk later. But the minimum salary is almost a million dollars. The maximum salary for this coming dollars, just for to play, not endorsements and all the rest, is fifty-six million dollars in one year. And by the way, if you Google it, you'll never guess who's number one. I'll let you figure that out later.

Okay, here's something that's a little harder or a little sad. 15.7% of NFL players will be bankrupt in 12 years.

So do they want more dollars? Will more dollars solve their problem? Well, no. The more you have, the more you want.

This is the external, the external challenge is easy come, easy go. Dollars in, dollars out. I have big dollars, I'm gonna spend big dollars. I have small dollars, I'll send, spend small dollars, but I just wish I had more.

The internal challenge is the love of money is endless. Psychologists have a term called the hedonic treadmill. That just means the more you have, the more you want, and then you get used to it, and then therefore the more you have, the more you want, and the desire increases and the dollars increases and you're just stuck on this treadmill.

Proverbs 27:20 says, "The human eyes are never satisfied."

So Solomon is saying here that when you're pursuing wealth, the first caution is the more you have, the more you want. And the more you have, the more other people are going to want it.

I'm not gonna ask you how many of you feel like you have to hide your wealth, but sometimes when you get more dollars, you wanna be quiet about it because the louder you are, the more people come knocking on your door, or the more phone calls you get from your siblings or somebody else. "Can I just borrow something?" And so the, the, the exterior challenge is the more y- easy come, easy go, but the love of money is endless. Solomon is saying that is vanity. The pursuit of more is vanity.

Work Hard, Sleep Well

Jon Farra: Next point, verse 12: "Sleep is sweet to the laborer, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep."

Okay, so this next caution is when you work hard, you will sleep well at night. How many of you can tell-- c- think of an example in your life where I worked hard and therefore I slept well at night? Sure. Sometimes I exercise or mow a lawn or do something physical, and then therefore, when you go shower up and get ready for bed, you're ready to go to sleep. You work hard, and therefore you sleep well.

And it actually put-- Solomon is actually saying whether you eat little or eat much, it's not about the dollars you have, it's about the fact that you are willing to work hard, and God gives you rest.

Psalm 127 essentially says the same thing, that, Oh, hold on. I just lost my mental note. There we go. "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain that they rise up early and go to bed rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for He gives sleep to His beloved."

The second point that Solomon is making here is work hard, but trust the Lord. Work hard, trust the Lord. To use the few biblical stories there, the story of Joseph is a good picture of working hard and trusting the Lord. Joseph was one of the youngest sons of, Jacob, and he was the favorite. And then you guys largely know the story. He was sold by his brothers, totally unfair, ends up in a, an environment in another country, in Egypt. So he works hard, and he trusts God. And then he gets falsely accused and thrown in jail, thrown in prison. Again, outside of his control.

We don't actually know a whole lot about his internal thinking, but we do see in his life that he worked hard and he trusts the Lord. He worked hard and he trusts the Lord.

You could look at the story of Daniel and see many of the same oppression and weights that are totally unfair in his life. And we think of Joseph and Daniel, to use two quick biblical examples, of pillars of the faith. I could guess that if you were to ask them in those moments, "Do you do you feel like a pillar of the faith?"

I guess they'd probably say no, or I'm struggling. A- as one pastor in my life previous said to me or asked the question, "Do strong Christians feel strong?" Often no. I mean, we just sang the song, Not Christ, but it is not me, but it's Christ in me.

So Solomon is saying here that pursuing the love of something is gonna keep you awake at night. God gives sleep to his beloved.

This is a little bit of the... I use the word hustle culture versus Sabbath culture. So the hustle culture is wake up at 5:00 AM, and you have your workout, and you have your goals for the day, and you have your little timer, and you're gonna do these things and therefore accomplish. And from a business point of view, you're gonna grow your something by 10%, and you're gonna reach new markets, and you're gonna r-rate of returns and all that stuff.

And then the Sabbath culture is to say, "Look, I'm gonna trust the Lord, which means I am going to purposefully pause and purposefully rest." And that sense that I am not working on purpose to praise the Lord, to trust him, to seek first the kingdom of God.

Now to speak to my h- own heart and to speak to this room. When you care for people, we end up often in the hustle culture. That person's hurting, I want to go help them. Praise God for that, that empathy, that love, that leadership, that care. But you also say, "I need to trust the Lord for that, and I can't fix somebody else's problem. I can't make some-- I can't turn somebody's heart." That is the work of the Lord.

So Solomon is referencing the thread of work hard and sleep well, for he gives sleep to his beloved.

To ask you a personal question for you to think on, what keeps you awake at night?

And when you apply the verse, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will come. Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." May that be true in my heart. May that be true in this room, and may that-- may God s- do His work through us.

Don't Trust in Savings

Jon Farra: All right, next danger. Solomon's almost referencing, "Here's a new plan. Try this," or people say, "Try this." So in verse 13, v- 5:13 Ecclesiastes, "There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner..." What are those next three words, if anyone has the text? To their hurt. So I am going to save and save and save and save and save and save until I just have enough.

And Solomon is saying that is vanity. When you are trusting in your savings, that not only is vanity, it hurts you. When you think of a hoarder and you, and you have this word picture of people who have books and newspapers and cans stacked to the ceiling in their houses, you say, "That's, that's a little bit unhealthy. Like something's wrong there. I understand there are mental health issues that factor into variables like that.

But when you want to save and save and save. And we use even good words, vacation. I wanna save for insurance. I wanna save for retirement.

Anybody know who Gollum is in Lord of the Rings? What is his favorite expression? Yeah, say it better than that. My precious. And this idea of saving and saving and saving, my precious.

That's not God's plan for us. Now, I'm not saying don't have a savings account, but I am saying the love of the savings account, the control of the savings account can lead us... It will hurt us. We just heard Tim talk about healthy reserves in the church. Praise God for that. Praise God for faithfulness for decades and decades in this room financially. But nobody in the elder room or anywhere else is saying, "Let's focus on that instead of focus on Jesus."

So rather, it says be free to give, have joy, even give sacrificially.

My wife's actually not in the room right now, so I'm gonna tell a story about her. Don't worry, it's a good story. So, a number of years ago here at Berean Bible Church, there was a missionary that came and stood here behind this pulpit and said, "We have this financial need. it's in a country overseas, and we're asking for donations for it," a special ask for a specific purpose.

And my wife and I, in our, to use the verb, Dave Ramsey-ness, had different buckets of savings and therefore so- you put this money into this account for this reason kind of thinking.

And my wife had been doing some tutoring at the time, and so she had saved dollars into this bank account, and we had a plan for our, that bank account, and the plan for that bank account was to go on a vacation to see. I have some siblings on the West Coast, and we were gonna go see my siblings on the West Coast. We were teachers here at Berean Christian School. We didn't have tons of extra dollars, so we had saved methodically or carefully for, I think, about a year and a half.

So this wasn't, like, a two-month thing. This was kind of like we're gonna drip dollars into an account and then use that for a vacation in the summer.

And so this missionary stands up and says, "Well, I have this specific need for this specific thing." And we're, my wife and I, are talking about it, "Hey, let's give some dollars to that," and my wife says, "I wanna give from that account." And I'm like, "Sounds good." And she's like, "I wanna give all of the money in that account."

"A-all, all of it? Well, how about, how about 50%? 51%? You know, let's, let's, let's, let's make a donation." And she's like, "Let's give all of it." And then you tell yourself, "Well, then I therefore can't go on the vacation." And you're saying, "Well, what does it mean to trust God?" Oh, I trust God with my money. I wanna trust God with my whole life.

Not I, but Christ in me. I, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I'm just trying to reflect to you the, the, the struggle when you get into giving and when you get into sacrificial giving.

And in prayer and in wisdom, I wrote a check based on my wife's conviction more than mine, but we're one, and we talked and prayed it through, and we gave all of the money in that account to the missionary. And we said, "Okay, God, we don't have any vacation money, so therefore, if you want to help us go on that vacation, now please provide it because we had a plan and now we don't."

So I worked on the upper campus here at Berean, and I went to check my mailbox one day, my little internal things where you put grades and other internal things in. And there was an envelope in that mailbox, and there was cash in that mailbox, and there was cash in that mailbox for the same amount that we gave. I still don't know who gave it to me.

What did that do for my heart? What did that do for my faith? To say, "God's first, give sacrificially instead of," I'm using the word hoard, but instead of having your plan and therefore protecting your plan. And we, on that particular instance, we held it with an open hand and we said, "Here's a good story. Here's a good plan, but God, you would now have to provide." And He did in that particular instance.

And my faith grew through that process. And we can use words like God is sovereign and God is good. Can we say God is sovereign and God is good when we don't get the money for the vacation? Yeah. That's, that's what faith does in our hearts. Anything else is vanity. And in this case, specifically hoarding funds where you change your love of-- you lose your love for the Lord and you have your love for that is vanity.

All right, keep going. Actually, take a moment to pray right now. Take a moment to ask God to increase your faith with the joy of giving.

Don't Trust in Investments

Jon Farra: I'm gonna go back to the text. Verse 14: "Those whose riches are lost in bad venture." All right. So Solomon is saying another vanity is instead of hoarding, you're just gonna do a bunch of investments. I have ve- my investment in this type of asset, in this type of asset, in this type of asset, in this type of asset. Therefore, I have wealth in that. And it's vanity when you lose your wealth through misfortune. That's what the text says.

The deeper thought is when you lose your ... when you place your love in that, and you lose it through misfortune.

Ecclesiastes, later in, 11 verse 1 and 2, it says specifically to cast your bread on six and seven time, or excuse me, seven and eight times. That was a middle school slip, six, seven. yes. Thank you. cast your bread on seven or eight different types and be free to give. Because what the text actually says, because only God holds the future.

So you don't know what kind of return you're gonna get. How many of you have ever invested in a bulletproof asset and lost it? Okay. You don't have to raise your hands. Financially, it's easy to be sold this line of this is foolproof.

And it's not that investments are bad. It's not that diversic- diver- diversification is bad. It's that God alone holds the future. We don't know how our rates of return are gonna be. The Lord does.

Don't Depend on Your Legacy

Jon Farra: So, okay, new plan. Verse 15. So instead of lots of different investments, "He is a father to a son but has nothing in his hand, and he came from his mother's womb, and he shall go again. Naked he came, and naked he shall return from his toil that he may carry away-- that he may have something to carry away in his hand."

All right, new plan. Instead of, instead of all these threads and, and lots of investments, our new plan is we're gonna do legacy planning. We're gonna, we're gonna put our name on a building, okay? I can't take my money with me, so therefore, I want people to think well of me afterwards. That's my plan.

Probably in this room, nobody has a building named after them, to use the word have a building named after you. But probably somewhere in our hearts, we wanna provide for our children and our grandchildren, rightly so. But the idea that I wanna provide for them so they will think well of me, that's vanity. Can't take it with you.

Do you know they built pyramids for decades and decades before the pharaoh was even born? And therefore, they had all of this wealth around pyramids. Twenty to thirty thousand workers working for decades and decades to build this tomb that would protect them in the afterlife. So in the afterlife, you will have everything provided for you because you're buried in this special place.

Is that bad theology? Sure it is. Is that vanity? Sure it is. Are we guilty of that? When we put our hope in the legacy that we leave, that's vanity. In fact, Jesus says later, "Store up treasures in heaven where moth and rust and thieves don't break in and steal." For only God knows the future, and he will one day draw it to a close.

How many of you guys like board games? Okay. When you play a board game, how many have ever gotten into a board game just a little too much? All right, good. Not hard to imagine. I- it frustrates me about my wife that when we play board games, her goal is to tie. Like, no, h- how do you play a board game if your goal is to tie? You wanna win.

But then some of us, at least as a seven-year-old playing Monopoly, will get so much into it that somebody will accuse somebody else of cheating, and somebody will have too big of a bank account, and more likely than not, some board will get flipped before the game's over. I'm sure I'm the only one in the room that has that experience.

All right, so when you step back as an adult and look at children playing Monopoly and yelling and screaming and flipping the board, you say, "Guys, you're way too into this board game. It's a game." Well, that's kind of the point Solomon's making. One day, God is going to pick up all the money. He's going to pick up all the Community Chest and Chance cards. He's gonna p- put all the hotels and houses back in the box. He's gonna put the board back in the box. He's gonna put the lid on. He's gonna put it back on the shelf, and the game will be done.

God's gonna wrap up the world in a similar way. And the hope of anything that we want to control, this is specific to dollars, but it could be anything, is vanity.

Don't Depend on Profits

Jon Farra: All right. Getting there. New plan, verse 17 and 18. "This is a grievous evil: Just as he came, he shall go. What he has gained he will toil, it's the wind. Moreover, all of his days he will eat in darkness, in much vexation, sickness, and anger." How many of you would like to avoid vexation, sickness, and anger?

Well, sure you would.

But when you put your hope in the dollars to do that or your control of the dollars to do that, you don't know what's gonna happen. And you could get foreclosed upon, and your car could get repossessed, and suddenly you're homeless, and suddenly you are eating in darkness and vexation and anger.

I'm a landlord, which means I own houses that I rent out, and I'm aware that sometimes when people get behind on their rent and they can't pay me, you write letters like, "You need to pay by this date or therefore you will need to move out." I think that's a responsible thing to do. But you also realize that sometimes they don't have anywhere to go. People have left my houses in home-- heading toward homelessness.

This isn't funny, but it's, it was actually a Halloween night 'cause we were trick-or-treating in North Hills with Berean people, and I had to go close out a tenant at the end of October, and I actually helped them physically load the U-Haul, like put their boxes in the U-Haul. And they actually did drive away, and they actually did give me back the keys, and I actually did give them a deposit.

And two or three days later, I got a phone call from the U-Haul company saying, "Do you know where our U-Haul is?" Th- "I'm sorry, I don't." And apparently this person drove away and just kept the U-Haul and that was their new home. Wow. And so there is darkness and sickness and anger.

Now, one deeper thought though is it may not be external. The darkness, the sickness, the anger may be internal Rather, Philippians 4:10 through 12, and then verse 13. "I know what it is to be in plenty. I know what it is to be in want. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

Solomon's Heart and Wealth was Turned Away to Strangers

Jon Farra: I'm actually jumping ahead now to 6:1 and 2. And the, the new plan here is to live as a group. We just don't want foreigners to come in and take over. And we will have great value. And, and it says, "It is an evil that I have seen under the sun that lies heavy on mankind, a man who gives his wealth and possession and honor so that he lacks nothing, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them because a stranger comes and enjoys them. This is a vanity and a grievous evil."

When you look at the end of Solomon's life, who's by the way writing this book largely as grandfatherly advice, Solomon's life did not end well. Even though he had all the wealth, the wisdom, the worship, and the women, it says in, I'm in 1 Kings 11:9, "The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and he commanded him concerning these things that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. And therefore s- therefore the Lord said to Solomon, 'Since you have, since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and I will give it to your servant.'"

I don't know that this is biographical, but it fits the narrative of Solomon's life. That he had this-- he, he was following principles, but as he married foreign women and therefore started worshiping their gods, his heart did turn to worship those other gods instead of worshiping the true God. And God did bring judgment. That too is vanity.

Enjoy Your Work and God's Good Blessings

Jon Farra: So the final thesis statement or the goodness of God. This is where we're ending. "Behold, I have seen what is good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in 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 God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and has access to his lot and rejoices in his toil, this is a gift from God. For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart."

Your heritage is to rejoice in your labor. Your heritage is the joy that God puts in your heart.

Stewardship for all seasons, God is the final auditor. This applies to your money. This applies to the love of money and the joy and freedom of giving. And then Matthew 6. Actually, worship team, come on back up. Let's close with one final song as I read Matthew chapter 6.

Verse 19: "Do not lay up for yourself treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Lay up for yourself treasure in heaven, where neither moth and rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The lamp-- The eye is the lamp of the body. So if the eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

No one can serve two masters. He will either hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Father, thank you for these words. Thank you for this text. We do want to see the things you have in our lives. We do want you to be our vision. We ask, Father, that our, the lamp of our body would be full of light. May we not love money. May we not love any possession that we can control. May we hold our hands loosely.

Thank you for the joy of sacrificial giving. Thank you, Father, for the opportunity we have to serve you. May your will be done. We ask these things, Jesus, in your precious name. Amen. Let's close in song.