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Sermon Text: Ecclesiastes 5:10-20
I must confess something to you. I have a lot of t-shirts, so many. I don’t even want to know the specific number because it’s way more than anyone needs. I can’t possibly wear them all over the course of many laundry cycles. What am I doing with so many??? Well, I like them, even though many aren’t fit for public because they’re worn out and don’t fit as they did when they were young. Still don’t wanna part with them.
But God says, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” (Luke 3:11) I have more than two shirts and I have food to spare. But I don’t see many shirtless human beings, so how am I to follow God’s instruction when I don’t know who to give my extra shirts to? Many organizations in our communities have solved this issue for me. I can go to Salvation Army, Good Will, Bargain Garden, or St. Vinny’s because people who work in these places do interact on the daily with human beings who have need of a shirt and many other things. If I’m honest, another question to ask is how often do I take advantage of these organizations and many others? Seldom, and only when once I’ve again accumulated so many shirts that the drawer no longer closes. So to appease my conscience, not even because I’m thinking about helping someone else, I part with a few! Which is, if I’m honest again, a lil perk for me. This is an embarrassing line of thought, of course. We all do it.
Why don’t we give to anyone more generously and more often with no expectation of return? Because we want a return and scared. That’s it really. Deep down we’re afraid of what becomes of us. It’s an exposed, uncomfortable feeling addressed by God in Proverbs 11:24, “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” Let’s keep that in mind as we look at Solomon’s book of blunt wisdom, Ecclesiastes, especially ch. 5, where he examines the harm of hanging on to so much extra money.
We can be like so many dragons sleeping restlessly on hoarded gold thinking we really need it, but do we? We think so many troubles will be assuaged, erased. Solomon would have us reconsider. He says, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?” (Ecc. 5:10-11) You’ll never be satisfied if your heart’s set on getting more. The more you get, the more you worry, the more you have to spend, the more people want from you and you wind up, as Solomon says, staring at a pile of stuff in self-congratulations while your neighbor, a human being in need, dreams of needed feast. That’s a major danger of loving money: it promises security but delivers anxiety. It promises joy but delivers emptiness. It promises control but leaves restless – like a dragon on a pile of gold fearing its theft.
Why do you work? What do you gain from all your toil? If it’s just for more money, more security, more things – Solomon says you’re chasing the wind. Naked we came into the world, naked we leave. The stuff stays here. The money stays here. No amount of it means anything before God. Better, Solomon guides, is to enjoy use what God gives as he guides. “This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them – for this is their lot.” (Ecc. 5:18) Notice the order: eat drink, then find satisfaction in work. Work isn’t the ultimate but a means to an end of providing for yourself and others. Work. Rest. Enjoy. Thank God. Share. Repeat.
We’ve much to share, much to be thankful for materially. God’s given us what matters eternally, too. What better foundation could there be for your life and identity than the willing sacrificial love of Jesus, who left heaven becoming nothing so you could have everything with God? God’s generosity is staggering, it floors us! He’s shared with us not just a portion, but the entirety of his love by giving us what he loves most – his Son! “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things.” (Romans 8:32) This means we get to stop worrying about whether or not we’ll have enough freeing us to care for those who don’t. God’s proven already he’ll give everything we truly need! He gave Jesus, the radiance of his glory, up to death! You are worth the blood of the Son of God. God gave Jesus up to betrayal, torment, the cross, being forsaken. “The Father does that for me? He must love me a lot.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “and he’d do it again in a heartbeat, but he doesn’t have to. Jesus is perfect.” If God has really shared that wealth with you and he has! How can we not share with others – both the gospel and the gifts God’s placed in our hands.
When you give away your money, your time, your extra shirts – you’re saying, “God’s given me more than enough. I trust him to keep taking care of me. I’m honored he’s given me the change to live my faith by taking care of someone else’s needs.” This is how we can make friends for eternity. We use the temporary blessing to soften hearts, make actual friends, and open ears to the love of Jesus who paid for their sins too.
Solomon ends our section with this line, “They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.” (Ecc. 5:20) What a gift, to be so occupied with gratitude and joy that you don’t have to obsess over the minutia of life under the sun, don’t sweat the small stuff. God gives you true gladness of heart. God gives you Jesus. That blessing will never be taken away because it’s God who chose to and is glad to give it; never depended on you in the first place.
So take stock. God’s shared his wealth with you. He’s given his Son, his love, his kingdom. Now share it. Share your faith. Share your stuff. Share the reason why! Share that Christ loved you first. That is true wealth and that, more than anything, is meant to be shared. Amen.