10th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 13
August 5
Lectionary 18
Luke 12:13-21
Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14 2:18-23
"Contentment?"
"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity." Ecclesiastes 1:2, RSV.
"I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." Ecclesiastes 1:12-14, RSV.
"I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me; and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity." Ecclesiastes 2:18-23, RSV.
"One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?" And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ’What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ’I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ’Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."" Luke 12:13-21, RSV.
Grace and peace to your from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ. Amen
When I told my wife that I was going to start off this sermon this morning with some song lyrics by the Beatles, she said you can tell you just turn 60.
Yes, I would like to share some lyrics from the Beatles’ song Can’t buy me love
Listen:
The Beatles - Can’t Buy Me Love Lyrics print version
Can’t buy me love, love
Can’t buy me love
I’ll buy you a diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel alright
I’ll get you anything my friend if it makes you feel alright
’Cause I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love
I’ll give you all I got to give if you say you love me too
I may not have a lot to give but what I got I’ll give to you
I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love
Can’t buy me love, everybody tells me so
Can’t buy me love, no no no, no
Say you don’t need no diamond ring and I’ll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of thing that money just can’t buy
I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love
Now listen to an Aseop fable
"When a dog which had stolen a piece of meat out of a butcher’s shop, was crossing a river on its way home, he saw his own shadow reflected in the stream below. Thinking that it was another dog with another piece of meat, he decided to make himself master of that also; but in snapping at the supposed treasure, he dropped the meat he was carrying, and so went away empty handed."
The rich farmer said to his soul, "Soul you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink be merry."
"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities!! All is vanity"
"Jesus says, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions; "
As you can tell by now as you listened to the song lyrics, fable and the quotes from our lessons this morning, our topic for today concerns a subject that is difficult to preach about, even more difficult for you to listen to, that subject is money, or possessions, or wealth, or whatever you would like to call it. It is a subject that many people have accused the church of talking about every Sunday or it is a subject that is only talked about when the church needs money. It is a subject that can raise the tempers of a lot of people, it can cause guilt feelings in others or it can cause apathy in still others.
This morning I would like to talk about money, but in a way that I hope will not make you feel guilty, or become angry, but in a way that will speak about contentment, or living a life that is not always thinking about how much I have or would like to have.
Our first lesson from Ecclesiastes the preacher says, " Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities!! All is vanity." or futility of futility’s, futility of futility’s!! All is futile, or Emptiness of emptiness, emptiness of emptiness!! All is emptiness. As you can see the word vanity as it is used in the Bible has to do with things or life being empty, futile, or insubstantial, or as the Hebrew word is literally translated, "a breath".
What the preacher is saying in Ecclesiastes is that all of life is empty, all of life is futile, all of life is like a breath here one minute, gone the next. Our text goes on to say that a man can toil all the day in field, but then when he dies and another takes over and he might not appreciate your efforts and might not take as good of care of the land.
In one sense, the preacher is saying, that things of this life in and of themselves mean very little. The preacher is saying that the toil for things, the toil of work in and of itself is really worthless, empty of no value.
But he says in the last paragraph, when you see your toil as from God, when you see that your toil is in praise and service to God, then it is not in vain, then one can eat and drink and find enjoyment in one’s toil. The preacher says, in verse 25 "for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?"
The preacher is saying that if your toil and effort are for God, then it has meaning and purpose. For if toil is seen in connection with God, then we will have our priorities right. Our work, our toil will be shared with God and it will not be the whole consuming effort in our lives.
The preaching is talking about contentment. Are you content with your life? Or do you always strive for more.
Are you like the business man in the following:
One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.
About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.
"You aren’t going to catch many fish that way," said the businessman to the fisherman, "you should be working rather than lying on the beach!"
The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And what will my reward be?" "Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" was the businessman’s answer.
"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman, still smiling.
The businessman replied, "You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!"
"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman again. The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. "You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!" he said.
"And then what will my reward be?" repeated the fisherman. The businessman was getting angry. "Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!"
Once again the fisherman asked, "And then what will my reward be?"
The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, "Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!"
The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "And what do you think I’m doing right now?"
Contentment is a difficult attitude to learn, but so important. It’s easy to get caught in the world’s trap of working harder and harder to earn more and more, when we may well already have what can provide us with the greatest possible happiness. (1)
I am not saying that we shouldn’t strive to do the best possible work we can, but what we are trying to point out is that the toil, the work, the stuff that the work buys is in and of itself is not that important. What really matters is my relationship to God and my relationship to the people around me. Because as the preacher says in Ecclesiastes apart from God everything is vanity.
Martin Luther talks about vocation as a God given gift, that what we do is a gift from God so our doing is important. But it is the priority we place on our work we are talking about this morning.What we are talking about tis morning is a balance between how much I have or want to have and contentment.
The rich farmer said to his soul,
19* And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’
20* But God said to him, ’Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
21* So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
The rich farmer was more concerned about his wealth than anything else. There needs to be a balance in life. On the one hand we need to work to take care of our families. But on the other, our families need more than a pay check. We need something more than a pay check. We need to develop sound relationships. The first relationship is with God, then our family.
It is only through God that my toil, my work, my enjoyment of life can have meaning and purpose. It is in that relationship with God then, that I can be free to work, free to use the fruits of my labor to serve God and the people around me. It is in that relationship with God that I can be free to love, free to care, free from the bonds of greed to enjoy life, to discover the beauty of relationships, the joy of a person who truly cares for me as I am, and the thrill of knowing that when this life is ended, I will be given a mansion for eternity.
It is through my relationship with God that I can be content with what I have. Content with my family, content with my lifestyle, content with how much money I have.
Bill, an accomplished professor at a major university, understood what the preacher was trying to say in this text from Ecclesiastes. He took neither himself nor his job as seriously as he took his family and his fishing pole. The things, others took seriously--- church organizational charts and denominational hand books, money and fame Bill winked at. He was too busy visiting with the widow lady who planted tulips the same day he did last week.
Bill knew that we can take life so seriously that we think each step we take is vitally important to the future of the human race. But Bill knew we must be only semi serious about this life. Understanding the semi seriousness of life does not lead to despair, but to a free and playful spirit that gives us time to enjoy life and time to love.
In I Timothy 6: 6-8 it says: "There is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing with these we shall be content."
Is there a certain contentment about your life? A contentment that says I don’t have to work and toil for an over abundance of things, but I can be content with a good living. Then spend some quality time in relationships, one, my relationship with God and then my relationship with my family and my friends. Am I content in knowing that my God given skills are being used to further his kingdom through my service and through my giving? Am I content in knowing that I don’t take life so seriously, that I don’t have time to smell the roses, so to speak?
"A 45 year old man sat crying in a pastor’s office. For the last 20 years he had grabbed and strained and fought for success. Through the corporate maze he ran, never asking why, never observing how he hurt his wife or kids, never realizing he didn’t know them, never admitting that he was destroying his own body with the stress and constant work.
Now he is in the pastor’s office crying his eyes out. His wife has left him. The kids are grown and have nothing to do with him because they don’t know him. Suddenly his financial assets and career mean nothing. He is alone in the world. Nothing means anything. He is alone, cut off from his loved ones, living in a hollowness of life apart from meaningful attachments to family or God."
You could apply this story to countless other people, not just corporate executives but farmers, lawyers, business people, doctors, and yes even pastors. All of us can get so caught up in being driven by the addiction for financial success, or fame, or importance, that we can loose sight of those relationships that truly give meaning and purpose to life. It is in relationships, being with people, being with God that gives life meaning and purpose.
Vanity or vanities, like a breath of wind, what we have is here one day gone the next.
The preacher says, in verse 25 "for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?"
"There is great gain in godliness with contentment, "
Am I content ?
amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale July 30, 2007
(1) from
Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina
