WWUTT 1699 Gladness in Labor (Ecclesiastes 5:8-20)

Vanity in Labor and the Limits of Wealth

As we've been going through Ecclesiastes, we've heard the preachers say, vanity, vanity, all is vanity, all is meaningless. But there is a way to find meaning and purpose in the things we do, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of Ecclesiastes. Since we're in our Old Testament book today, if you want to open up to chapter 5, I'm going to begin reading in verse 8, and we'll go to the end of the chapter.

This is the Word of the Lord. If you see oppression of the poor and robbery of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished over the matter. For a lofty one keeps watch over another lofty one, and there are loftier ones over them.

But the advantage of the land in everything is this, a king committed to a cultivated field. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its produce. This, too, is vanity.

When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the success to their masters except to look on with their eyes? The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the satisfaction of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

There is a sickening evil which I have seen under the sun, riches being hoarded by their master to his own evil demise. And those riches were lost through a bad endeavor, and he became the father of a son, but there was nothing in his hand for him.

As he had come naked from his mother's womb, so he will return as he came. He will carry nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can bring in his hand. This, also, is a sickening evil. Exactly as a man came, so will he go.

So what is the advantage to him who labors for the wind? Also, all his days he eats in darkness with much vexation and his sickness and anger. Here is what I have seen to be good, which is beautiful, to eat, to drink, and to see good in all one's labor in which he labors under the sun during the few days of his life which God has given him, for this is his portion.

Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also empowered him to eat from them and to take up his portion and be glad in his labor. This is the gift of God, for he will not remember much the days of his life because God allows him to occupy himself with the gladness of his heart.

God’s Sovereignty Over Injustice and Human Labor

Now there's a lot of proverbial things going on here, so like single verses that could be their own proverbs, but what was kind of the general theme? Did you pick it up of what we were reading here in chapter 5, verses 8 to the end of the chapter?

It's different than what we were looking at last week in verses 1 through 7. That was simply about having the fear of God. So what was this section that we were looking at today, what was that about? This was more musing about the vanity of riches, how possessing wealth will ultimately lead to nothing.

Wealth in and of itself is not going to save anybody. There's not inherent meaning and purpose to possessing wealth. But toward the end, the preacher mentioned how one can find good things in the labor that he does and the possessions that he gains as a result of that work.

God has given riches to this person and also empowered him to eat from them and take up his portion and be glad in his labor. This is the gift of God. So when a person does find worthwhile satisfaction in what he has done and it rolls up into praise to God, this is the blessing of God that he has found meaning and significance and some greater purpose in what he does because there is no inherent purpose in that work without understanding service unto the Lord, without understanding the blessing of God.

So as we start here in verse 8, we read, if you see oppression of the poor and robbery of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished over the matter, as though you're witnessing something that has never been done in the land.

Of course it shouldn't be done in the land, but you're witnessing something that's never been done. Of course it's been done, because as the preacher has been lamenting over the course of this letter, all is vanity.

There is nothing new under the sun. So even injustice and unrighteousness and the oppression of the poor, all of these things are going to continue on as long as there is sinful man on the earth. And he goes on to say, for a lofty one keeps watch over another lofty one, and there are loftier ones over them.

There's always a higher power. There's always someone over them. So even the wicked ruler has to answer to somebody else, and who is ultimately at the top. Who is at the top is God. So all of this is going to come full circle here.

All of this is connected. Even though you can take these first several verses as being like their own proverbs, they're still connected with even what the preacher talks about at the end, about receiving a gift of God, that the Lord would bless him to find goodness in the work of his hands.

Because again, it always goes up to somebody. And even the master of a house or a land does not just possess those things with nobody over him. God is over him. So that when he labors, if he gives praise to God who gave him all of these things, then he does find significance in his work.

Now we start with the unrighteous man. We start with the man who the work that he does oppresses others to benefit himself. There's always going to be somebody else that he has to answer to. Whether you're talking about like a lord who has to respond to a king, or a king who has to respond to God.

There's always somebody over him. Justice will be done. Even though we may not see it done in our lifetime, or done the way that we would have done it, God ultimately will have the last word over all the injustice and unrighteousness that happens in the land.

As much as we can going forward, we must do justly. And we must defend the oppressed, and look out for the poor, and those who cannot speak up for themselves. But we will not be able to handle every unjust dispute.

Ultimately, all of that rests in the Lord's hands. And in the very end, when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, everyone will receive justice. No one will receive injustice. For those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have put their faith and trust in him, we have received justice in the sense that the blood of Jesus has covered over our sins.

So by faith in him, we are justified. Our sins are wiped clean. And we wear his righteousness. When we read in 1 John 1, 9, that if we ask forgiveness for our sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

How is God just to cleanse us of unrighteousness? Because our debt has been paid by the death of Jesus Christ. And so everybody in the end, at that final judgment, gets justice. No one will receive injustice.

Those who did not believe in Jesus Christ, whose blood does not cover over their sins, they will perish. And they will be sent to eternal judgment, with the wrath of God poured out on them forever. So repent, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will live.

Money, Contentment, and the Folly of Hoarding Wealth

Verse 9,. But the advantage of the land and everything is this, a king committed to a cultivated field. So we have a king that is committed to work. He is committed to work the land. He is committed to subdue all things.

That was part of the creation command that was given by God to Adam. Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. And a king that is committed to that is going to see to it that the land is worked, that people are doing their work, doing their labor.

And by making sure that they're doing their work, it's also ensuring that justice is being done. Man is living according to the law, and those who are breaking the law are being punished, and so that those who are oppressed are receiving justice.

Verse 10,. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its produce. This too is vanity. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. Paul repeated the same thing with Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, where he said, Tell the rich not to be in love with their riches.

Yeah, there's another verse in 1 Timothy 6 that's more famous than that one. It's verse 10. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils, and it's out of this love that people have wandered away from the truth and pierced themselves with many pangs.

So a person who loves money is not going to be satisfied with that. He is going to come to ruin. And this too is vanity. I mean, it's all for nothing. So hence Paul saying to Timothy, Tell the wealthy not to be in love with their riches, but to be generous with what it is that they have.

That way they don't fall into this trap of loving money and then never being satisfied with the stuff that's in this world, because we truly never will be satisfied with stuff that's in this world. You know, oftentimes when we read about loving money, who do we think of that?

Who do we think that applies to? It only applies to the rich, right? Because they're the ones who have lots of money. I don't have a lot of money, so this doesn't mean that much to me. Oh, yes, it does.

Every single one of us can fall into this trap, into this temptation. It doesn't matter how much we have. The poor can love money to their own destruction. And you see that with poor people, people who are in the lowest class or even in poverty, and they try these get rich schemes, and they dump all this money into this stuff, thinking that they'll get rich quickly.

And where does their money go? It goes into nothing and leaves them even poorer than they were before they started investing in these things. Now they've not even applied their hands to work so that they may have something to show for the labor that they have done.

They're buying lottery tickets. They're gambling at the casinos. They're getting ensnared into pyramid schemes or whatever it else. Multi-level marketing. You know, these things that grab people and try to win you with the promise of more money.

That can happen to anybody in any tax bracket. It doesn't just happen with the rich. Even the poor can love money to their own destruction and pierce themselves with many pangs. Verse 11, when good things increase, those who consume them increase.

Boy, is America not a testament to that, right? So what is the success to their masters except to look on with their eyes? So as a master's goods increase, as a man has invested himself to expanding his capital and he gains more, his $1 turns into $2, turns into $10, turns into $100 and $1 ,000 and so on and so forth.

As he sees what he has multiply, so will be the people that want to glean from what he has earned. There will be people to consume his increase. As you see somebody expand a business, will they gain more clients, more customers that will come and consume those things?

What can the owner of that business do except just look on? He can just look on with his eyes. What real genuine satisfaction is there in the fact that this person has expanded their business or their territory?

The love of money is not going to give that person any sense of purpose or accomplishment. Going on to verse 12, the sleep of the laboring man is sweet. So the person who really does this work, the one who labors hard, when he goes to sleep, it's a dreamless sleep.

We talked about this last week looking at verses 1 through 7. The verse was 3, for the dream comes through abundant endeavor and the voice of a fool through abundant words. And then verse 7, for in many dreams and vanities are many words.

Rather fear God. And remember the reference to dream there is something negative because the dreams of a person will haunt them. They can't make their mind be still. Their mind is still even constantly going when they go to sleep so that they dream and they never really feel like they get a good sleep.

But the person who labors, the person who is wise and does his work to exhaustion, then it says in verse 12, the sleep of the laboring man is sweet and he's not haunted or kept awake by dreams. Whether he eats little or much, but the satisfaction of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

The satisfaction of the rich man in that he cannot really find any satisfaction in all that is that he's done. And he's still thinking in his mind, how can I get more? I'm not satisfied with what I have.

I need more stuff. I once heard Albert Muller talking about the Forbes 500 list. So the list of the 500 richest persons on earth and you have the top 10. The people are in the top 10 list and you're constantly seeing those persons change.

Number one will drop down. Number three jumps up to number one and it just kind of moves around all the time. And it's like a contest. It's a competition among these men and women who sit in the richest persons in the world bracket.

They're never satisfied with where they are. They need to make more money so that they will be richer than the other rich guy. They're never satisfied. They have more wealth than most people on the planet combined.

And they still aren't satisfied with that. They still don't find any real peace in all it is that they possess. Verse 13, there is a sickening evil which I have seen under the sun. Riches being hoarded by their master to his own evil demise.

It is not a benefit to anybody when the rich man hoards his wealth. Verse 14, and those riches were lost through a bad endeavor and he became the father of a son but there was nothing in his hand for him.

The man had squandered his wealth on himself because he was selfish and had nothing even to pass on to his son that his son may have something to start with and then multiply his wealth. See, that's the way that it should work.

If we are investing wisely and we have something that we can pass on to our children so that they don't have to start at zero. They start with something and then they too are able to invest that and multiply that out and give something to their children and so on and so forth.

We multiply family, we multiply territory. But this person that's being described here did not invest his money. He squandered it all on himself. He had nothing to pass on to the next generation. Verse 15, as he had come naked from his mother's womb so will he return as he came.

He will carry nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can bring in his hand. There's the old proverb, you never see a hearse or I'm sorry, you never see a trailer you never see a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse.

I just messed it up. But anyway, you never see a moving trailer behind a hearse. All the stuff that you have in life, you can't take it with you. He will carry nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can bring in his hand.

Verse 16, this also is a sickening evil. Exactly as a man came, so will he go. So what is the advantage of him who labors for the wind? Also all his days he eats in darkness with much vexation and his sickness and anger.

Gladness in Labor as a Gift from God

So ultimately all of his work amounts to nothing. But in these last few verses of chapter five here verses 18 to 20, we find the secret of success of finding meaning and purpose in the work that we do.

How can we find meaning and purpose in our labors? Verse 18, here is what I have seen to be good which is beautiful to eat, to drink and to see good in all one's labor in which he labors under the sun during the few days of his life which God has given him for this is his portion.

So here we have the teaser. There is a way to eat and drink and see good in the work that a person does even in the few days that we are given by God. We're still recognizing the sovereignty of God. Again, there's always somebody at the top and God is the one who has determined every one of our days.

We cannot add one day or take one day away from what God has ordained for us. Verse 19, furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth he has also empowered him to eat from them and to take up his portion and be glad in his labor.

This is the gift of God for he will not remember much the days of his life because God allows him to occupy himself with the gladness of his heart. So when a person does find meaning and purpose in the work that they do that is the blessing of God and it is done to the glory of God.

When we work and when we labor ultimately for God then we find satisfaction in our work. And the Apostle Paul said in Colossians 3 remember you work first for the Lord and not for man. And it's in this that we will find significance in the work that we do.

Whatever that work would happen to be. The job that you're going to today or maybe that you're coming from. Be thankful for the paycheck that you make for that is money that is given to you by God to feed yourself and provide for your family.

Ladies, are you stay-at-home wives or mothers? That is good work and it is pleasing unto the Lord. So give praise to him for the children that he has blessed you with for the husband that you have for the home, the roof that is over your head that you may labor there in that home.

You're not working for anybody else and helping them get rich. You are experiencing the riches of the wealth that you have in your own home by the blessing of God being able to work there to his glory and to the benefit of your children and to your husband.

What a precious thing that is. And in all these little things all these little joys that we experience in the work that we do with our hands here on this side of heaven it rolls up into praise to God and it is just a small taste of the wonderful blessed glory that we will all experience together at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

It is possible for us to eat and to drink and to see good in all one's labor even while we are here under the sun but when we arrive in glory with Christ it will be that much more sweeter. Heavenly Father we thank you for this word that we have read here and I pray that it teaches us humility it teaches us significance and that our purpose is to do all things to the glory of God.

When we do that we find purpose in everything else that we do. May it be unto your name walking in the righteousness and justice that you have spoken of in your word what you say is good what you say is right.

May we pursue those things to your glory. It's in Jesus name that we pray.

Amen. This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word When We Understand the Text.