Introduction

I want to talk with you about the most controversial subject in the church. It's not homosexuality, it's not the use of the sign gifts, and it's not even the role of women. It's money. It's said that the most sensitive nerve in the human body is the one that runs from our brain to our wallet. That's because money has significant power in our lives.

A major fact of life is that we all come from different backgrounds and different families and we were all taught or we all learned different things about money. As a result we approach money from a variety of perspectives. Given that money is a major component of our lives, and that it has the power to help us and other people or hurt us and other people, we all need some lessons on how to make money a blessing rather than a curse.

If you want to learn how to hit a tennis ball really well, you ask Serena Williams. If you want to learn how to throw a football really well, you ask Peyton Manning. If you want to know about money management you ask someone like King Solomon. Solomon had great wealth and knew both the upsides and the downsides of affluence. In Ecclesiastes five, starting in verses 8-9, he tells us about the limitations of money.

The limitations of money

The first thing he tells us about our money is that it's going to be levied. In other words, it's going to be taxed by the government. Governments, by definition, create bureaucracy. In order to finance their bureaucracies they need resources. So they're always going to levy—or tax—your income. My guess is that all of us pay federal tax, state tax, sales tax, property tax, and tax on our license plates because different levels of government need to be resourced.

He moves on in verses 10-12 and tells us that money is not only levied by government it's loved by some people. He says if you love money, you'll never have enough—you'll never be content or satisfied—because you'll always think you need more. That creates problems because you're going to lose sleep over how to make it, grow it and manage it. In fact, if you love money it may lead to your own destruction.

Look at the first part of verse 13: "I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner." If you don't believe that, let me tell you about the man who wanted more.

All he ever wanted in life was more. He wanted more money so he gambled inherited wealth into a billion dollar pile of assets. He wanted more fame, so he broke into the Hollywood scene and became a filmmaker and star. He wanted more sensual pleasures so he paid handsome sums to indulge his every sexual urge. He wanted more thrills so he designed, built, and piloted the fastest aircraft in the world. He wanted more power so he secretly dealt money and political favors so successfully that two U.S. Presidents became his pawns. All he ever wanted was more. He was absolutely convinced that it would bring him satisfaction. Unfortunately, history shows otherwise.

His life concluded horribly: an emaciated body with a sunken chest, fingernails in grotesque, inches-long corkscrews, rotting black teeth, tumors, innumerable needle marks from his drug addiction. Howard Hughes died believing the myth of more. He died a billionaire junkie, insane by all reasonable standards. His passion for more led him to the end of the rainbow only to find emptiness, futility and destruction.

Friends, money is a fact of life but despite what our society might believe, it has limitations. It will be levied by the government and loved by some to their own harm.

Third, money can so easily be lost. The financial crisis of 2008-2009 taught us that money can so easily be lost. Sometimes it's lost because of bad decisions—like really risky investments. Sometimes it's lost through a Wall Street collapse, economic recessions, or personal tragedies and misfortune.

Serving on the Grand Jury for the city of Denver in 2003. We investigated a great deal of criminal activity but the saddest case was of a financial planner who literally stole 40 to 50 million dollars from a group of clients over a seven year period. He was a local version of Bernie Madoff. People who worked their entire lives to build their nest egg, entrusted it to him but he stole it and it was gone.

Obviously, this is not new to the world of modern America because the Teacher said he saw that happen in ancient Israel. People worked hard for their money, saved it and then, in some way or another—in some type of commercial venture or some type of natural catastrophe—they lost everything they had.

There's one other limitation of money that Solomon points out. The Teacher says that if you work really hard and you save and you invest but you don't take the time to enjoy it or you can't enjoy it because your health goes—you'll leave it all behind. Then someone else—who didn't work for it and may not be related to you in any way whatsoever—ends up with what you gave your life too and left behind. That happened then and it happens now—I've seen that in my own extended family.

This happened to my Great Uncle Carl and Aunt Mary. They had a lot of money but never really enjoyed it all that much because they got older and their health went south. They had no kids and no religious or charitable organizations to leave their money too. So when they died my dad got a very small slice of the inheritance and one of Aunt Mary's nieces got all the rest. She had no husband or children and when she died all that money went to people who didn't even know who Carl and Mary Wenig were.

As the Teacher reflects on all this it grieves him. Verses 3-6 makes me wonder if he's reflecting not just on some other people he observed but maybe his own life as he moves into its later stages. He looks around and thinks, I have it all—but now I'm too old to enjoy it. I can have steak anytime I want but my teeth are no good and my digestion can't handle it. I can buy a $100,000 Porsche but my eyes aren't good enough to drive. I have enough money to buy a mansion but the kids are gone, the grandkids live hundreds of miles away and the house is so empty. He knows that someday he'll die and leave it all behind.

This might sound depressing but I don't think it is. I think it's refreshing and here's why.

The proper perspective on money

We're told everywhere by everyone, to make all the money we can. Ever since we were little kids we've been told to knock ourselves out to get rich because then we'll have happiness, contentment, comfort and fulfillment. But Solomon comes along and says "I was one of the richest, most affluent people who ever lived. Don't get me wrong; money is nice. But if you think that money makes you happy and fulfilled, you're mistaken because that's a lie." He's saying money is a necessary fact of life but don't be misled by it. It's got a lot of limitations. It's going to be levied, loved, lost, and left; so remember that it's fleeting, like a chasing after the wind. In our culture we divide people into the haves and have nots. The one-percenters and then all the rest of us. We talk a lot about the rich and the poor.

The Bible looks at this issue from an entirely different perspective. It doesn't talk nearly as much about the rich and the poor as it does about the righteous and the unrighteous. In Scripture we see the righteous rich and the righteous poor; we also see the unrighteous rich and the unrighteous poor. The amount of money you have in your checking account, your savings account, or your retirement account is never an indication of your standing before God. I think that's one reason why the Holy Spirit used a rich man like Solomon to talk to us about money. After he lays out all the limitations of money, he points us in a different direction.

Focus on God and his grace

As we read thru this entire text, it's clear that as Solomon lays out all the limitations of money, his focus is really on God. God is mentioned six times in this text and he's the heart of the passage. Once again Solomon argues that God is the giver of good things to us because he is so gracious. This sounds very similar to what Jesus said in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, specifically in Matthew six. After talking about how people chase after wealth and the things they think it will do for them, he tells his followers to "Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you."

Jesus is telling us the same thing that Solomon wrote a thousand years before: Don't be misled by money. Instead, focus yourself on God and his grace. God is the one who provides for us. The air we breathe, the food we eat, the health we have, the families we enjoy, the jobs we work, the homes we own—the Lord is the one who graciously gives us all those. So we don't need to get rich, or strive to get more, because the Lord gives us all good things.

Philip Yancey wrote about wealth and had a great insight I'd like to share with you:

All of us live here by the goodness and grace of God - like the birds in the air and the flowers in the field, Jesus said. Those creations do not worry about future security and safety; neither should we. Not even Solomon, the wealthiest man of his time, could not outshine a common lily. Jesus calls us to express our faith and confidence that God will care for us just as he cares for the sparrow and lily. His kingdom proves an effective antidote to the deceptions of money because it brings to money the power of grace. And in the final analysis my long pilgrimage with money has brought me back to a single word: grace.

I think Yancey's got the right perspective. It's crucial to take Jesus' words to heart about grace and seeking his kingdom and his righteousness because that covers every area of life including money. The issue is never the amount of money you have or don't have. The issue is whether or not you're handling your money in a righteous or unrighteous manner. It's a matter of using your money in a fashion that's either consistent with God's kingdom or consistent with the kingdoms of this world.

Conclusion

Friends, money is a necessary fact of life. If we're not careful it can mislead us. But if we're focused on God's grace, his kingdom and it's righteousness we can learn to manage it well. In light of this truth, let's commit our hearts to Jesus and seek his righteousness for our lives. As we do that our money will be transformed into a tool of God's grace for us, our families, our church, our community, and our world.

Scott Wenig is associate professor of applied theology at Denver Seminary in Denver, Colorado, and author of Straightening the Altars.