WEBVTT 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:10.240 So we've been making our way through the book of Ecclesiastes for the past couple of months, and now we're into chapter six. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:16.719 Last week Brian preached on chapter five, and it was about, he talked about uh wealth. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.719 Uh it's what's going on in Ecclesiastes in chapter five, most of chapter five. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:36.079 And so Ecclesiastes is about King Solomon's life, Old Testament book, a guy with of incredible power and wealth, Bill Gates type of wealth, incredible money, and after all the money and all the wealth and all the power and everything, he says, vapor. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:37.280 He says, vanity. 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:39.039 He says, like it's like a mist. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:43.840 These things, using these things for meaning in your life is like vapor. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:48.320 It's something that's there and you think you have it, and then it's gone. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:56.240 And so last week Brian talked about how wealth is it's in its inability to satisfy us. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:00:59.200 It just can't satisfy us. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:02.159 And so that was a huge section of chapter five. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:04.400 And so I'm reading along like with Brian. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:13.599 I'm going, okay, so I'm next week, and then chapter six comes up, and Solomon, or actually, it's a probably a guy writing in Solomon's voice about Solomon's life. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:17.439 Uh the same issue is still going on in chapter six. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:21.840 And so the same issue is going on in chapter six, so we're just going to keep talking about it for another week. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.840 Now, I'm realistic enough to know that money can make you happy. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.079 Has anybody had money make you happy? 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:31.680 You're just willing to say, I bought a Wave Runner and it was awesome. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:33.760 Like I had a blast. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.040 It was so much, but somebody gave me money, I got a bonus check, I wasn't happy before. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:42.159 Legitimately, I was happy afterwards. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:46.719 So we can be realistic enough to say money can make you happy. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:48.640 I'm realistic enough to say that. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:51.359 It can because it can make your life easier, right? 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:53.599 It can make your life comfortable. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:02:04.719 If you're young and you're you're eating at cookout for every meal you go out, and you're not sure if it's food or not, because you're not sure how food could cost you know that much money. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:14.400 And you're feeding your date or cookout, you're going, man, if only we could go to Chili's, like if I got the Chili's and you get the Chili's, and you're going, like, man, if only I could go to that nice Italian restaurant on the square, then that would be good. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:26.560 And then you're at the Italian restaurant on the square, and you're going like, I've heard of this restaurant down in Atlanta called Bacchanellia, and if I go there, then I'll be like, and we we just always are graduating this thing that's gonna make us happy, right? 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:31.520 And we do it with food, we do it with houses, we do it with trips, we do it with cars. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:45.280 I remember my first car, it was a gray Toyota four-wheel drive 1985 truck, and I thought it was awesome, but Rusty Collins had a red one. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:47.840 And I just thought it was awesome. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.479 Same truck, same truck, right? 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:52.639 He had bigger tires, to tell you the truth. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:53.520 And I think that was it. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:03:00.879 It was the fact that his had bigger tires than mine, and it was the same, it was this same as sack truck, and my truck made me really, really happy. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:04.560 And then I saw his truck, and he had bigger tires, and it was red, and it was awesome. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:07.759 We'll always recalibrate, right? 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:12.719 To the next house, the new income, the next bonus check, the next restaurant, the next whatever. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:16.800 We will always recalibrate to that new place, that new house. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:20.080 And then you discover the thing you were trying to avoid. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:22.879 You. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:25.280 You're still there. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:26.960 Like that's the problem. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:31.120 Like you're at cookout, and then you're at Bacchanalia. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:32.960 And you're still there. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:34.080 This is the problem. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:35.520 The problem is us. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:45.280 The problem is is, and then we're asking the question, like, okay, can I possibly have some sort of worth apart from these things that surround me? 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:51.199 Apart from that first income out of college, and it's really sad, like a really sad number. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.599 And your friend got a bigger number. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:10.000 Like, or do you have worth apart from that, or that investment statement that comes in the mail, and it's just not what you wanted it to be at age 40 or at age 75, and your friend's helping their kids out a lot, and you can't help your kids out like you want to. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:15.280 Like, can you have worth apart from things, money, wealth? 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.720 And imagine that kind of freedom if you could. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:23.040 Like if you actually could have worth apart from those things. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:27.120 So, Ecclesiastes 6, 1 and 2, I'll reread these verses. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:33.199 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind, a man to whom God gives wealth. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:34.240 So God gives us wealth. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:37.120 God gives wealth, possessions, and honor. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:50.000 And we learned last week from Brian that if your household income is over$50,000 a year, you are in the 1% of global wealth. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:54.000 50% of the world washes their clothes by hand. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:55.279 Okay? 00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:00.720 I complain because I have to move them from one machine to the other. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:01.680 Right? 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:03.519 Okay? 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:05.279 Wealth. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:06.480 Wealth. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:15.439 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. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:23.600 Alright, so he's saying, you're given wealth, and you will die, and you're leaving it to somebody else. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.560 It all goes to somebody else at some point. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.079 And this is vanity, this is vapor. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:32.720 It's a grievous evil. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:37.120 And we know this. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.480 We know it's vanity, we know it's vapor. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:46.079 And part of this process, this evil process is comparison. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:46.720 Right? 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:57.120 The more you fantasize about something else or somebody else's thing or income or house, the more you're unsettled and not content with the thing you have. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.360 Christy said this week she had read a statement, a quote, a sentence. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:05.199 Comparison is the thief of joy. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:08.240 Comparison is the thief of joy. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:09.199 That's good. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:10.639 That is good. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:12.560 Comparison is the thief of joy. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:15.920 And I think it is because we start to compare, you start to covet, right? 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:20.000 I mean, we're talking like Old Testament, like Ten Commandments. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:21.279 Don't covet. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:26.160 Because when you covet, coveting bites you, right? 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:28.959 And it sucks out contentment in your life. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:30.079 That's what it does. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:39.199 You start to compare, you start to covet, and it just starts to suck out any contentment you would have in your life for what's going on in your life. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:54.079 And yet this passage is saying it's a grace of God to have a heart that's quieted from that comparing and that coveting and to know some contentment. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:55.040 So that's point number one. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:58.160 Point number one, it is a grace of God to live in contentment. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:01.199 It is a grace of God to live in contentment. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:07.439 And it turns out it's really hard to not be content if you're being grateful. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:10.319 Usually these two things go together. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:19.199 And so if you feel that comparison coming on, that coveting coming on, we just need to repent, right? 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:21.279 I mean, that's what we need to do is repent. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:30.000 I mean, literally, when we feel that coming on, we just need to stop and say, God, forgive me for this comparison and this coveting. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:37.040 Thank you that you're gracious to me and I'm still secure and your sight and your child and Jesus' work is enough for me, and I am your child. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:38.319 Thank you for that. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:44.399 Forgive me that I'm coveting that next meal, that greater restaurant, the next income, that next car. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:47.279 And then start to speak out that gratitude for what you do. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:48.879 I do have a car, thank you. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:50.399 This car moves me around. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:52.480 I do have a place to sleep, thank you. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:53.439 I have a place to sleep. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:54.959 I do have an income, thank you. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:07.439 I do have a family, I do have a friend, I do whatever it is you have, start to speak out this gratitude, and all of a sudden, all those eyes that are going towards comparison and coveting can start to come toward what has what has God given you? 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:15.199 And you can start to find some contentment in that, and it is a grace of God to find contentment in what you do have. 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:25.920 Verse 3, if a man fathers, so Solomon's not done making his point about how what a grievous evil this is to not find satisfaction in the wealth you have. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:36.000 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:36.960 Right? 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:38.080 And that's and that's good. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:39.279 It's like permission. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.759 You should find satisfaction in life's good things. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:46.399 And he also has no burial. 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:50.639 I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:51.360 Right? 00:08:51.440 --> 00:09:01.519 I mean, this turns a little graphic here because what he's saying here is he's saying it's better to never have consciousness than to be discontent. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:09.919 So point number two, it's possible to have wealth and never find meaning. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.679 It's possible to find wealth and never find meaning. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:21.519 The New York Post reported last week a lady in Britain, four years ago, she was 17 years old, and she won the lottery. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:25.360 She won$1.25 million when she was 17 years old. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:36.320 It's been four years later, she's now suing the lottery company for allowing her to play because she says it ruined her life. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:37.519 Okay? 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:39.600 So what she says it, we sort of laugh. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:43.039 She's like, okay, um we take that in. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:45.279 She wins$1.25 million million dollars. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:48.879 Four years later, she's suing the company because she played the lottery. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:51.840 Uh she says she is sick of shopping. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:54.720 She misses having a purpose in the morning. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:57.120 She misses hustling for a paycheck. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:03.679 She's not quite sure who wants to be her friend and why, or if a boy wants to date her, or why the boy wants to date her. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:07.600 And the irony of all of this, of course, is she's suing for more money. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:12.159 That her solution to the problem is more money. 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:12.879 Right? 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:14.799 And because the issue's not money. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:16.480 The issue's never money. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:17.840 The issue is her. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:20.159 The issue is me. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:21.600 The issue's you. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:23.679 It's the core of who we are. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:28.480 The issue's not the products that surround us or needing a little bit more money. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:36.879 See, if the core of who you are is unsettled and not at peace, then you will always try to use wealth to define you and to give you peace. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:38.879 You're using wealth as a god. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:40.559 It's idolatry. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:43.279 You're using God as the savior. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:47.200 How much stuff do we need to buy? 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:54.720 How much stuff do I need to buy until I finally believe that it won't satisfy me? 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:58.080 It can't deliver you. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:00.799 Stuff can't deliver you. 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:07.679 Wealth can't deliver you and your heart out of shame, out of guilt, out of inadequacy. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:10.879 It can't deliver you into a right position of value. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:14.000 It can't deliver you into a position with God that is secure. 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:15.279 It can't do it. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:19.120 And this comes back around to point number three, which is a little bit of rephrasing. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:23.279 Using wealth for meaning is like chasing wind. 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:27.279 This is a phrase that Solomon loves throughout this book. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:29.120 We know the feeling, right? 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:39.039 It's the feeling when you run and you run and you run and you run and you run and you never quite catch the thing you're running after. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:46.639 Verse 7, all the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:51.039 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:55.440 And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:04.159 So a couple complicated sentences there, but Solomon's sort of taking a shot at the idea that wise people are always wealthy and poor people are not wise. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:06.159 And he's saying, I don't think that's true. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:13.840 And then he continues, verse 9, better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:18.399 This is also vanity and a striving after wind. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:23.039 So now we get this sense from Solomon who knows personally that wealth will not give you meaning. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:24.159 He knows it. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.320 Chris and I were talking about this yesterday. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:31.120 It's like, I like when Paul says it, like when Paul says wealth won't give you meaning. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.159 I like it in the New Testament, but Paul was poor. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:34.720 Okay? 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:38.080 There's something about Solomon saying it. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:41.600 Like the wealthiest guy in the world saying it. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:46.000 That you go, oh, okay, like, okay, so it's not just a poor guy. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:47.120 Of course you're saying it. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:48.799 You don't have any money, right? 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:53.440 But here's a guy who has all the money, and he's saying the same thing. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:57.440 And we know the feeling. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:06.240 When the inner parts of us are exhausted from trying to use wealth to feel satisfied. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.759 It's that appetite that's never quite satisfied. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:12.639 It's like being at the Golden Corral buffet. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:16.159 You move around a lot, you get a lot, you eat a lot, and afterward you feel horrible. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.879 You're not satisfied. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:22.080 It doesn't satisfy your appetite. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:25.519 So it's it's kind of like these buckets. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:28.799 I've been thinking about buckets the last week with this text. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.440 So you have this bucket. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.279 This is your bucket. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:38.639 It's pink, it works, it has a handle, you can carry stuff, it's functional. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:41.759 The pink bucket is great. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.799 But then you see this other bucket. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:52.480 It's pink also, but it's shaped differently, and you think to yourself, I'm pretty sure I need a different shape. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:54.559 Like I'm I'm just pretty sure. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.440 And it's metal, you know, it's different material. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:01.120 And all of a sudden your bucket, not quite sure about your bucket, you think, well, that's the bucket for me. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:03.679 And then you go, oh no, I saw a blue one, saw a blue bucket. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.679 That could be incredible for my life. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:07.440 This could be a game changer. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:09.600 And so maybe even get the blue bucket, right? 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:15.039 And you're with the blue bucket for a while and it's great, and then you go, no, that's the orange bucket, and it's bigger. 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:18.000 Maybe you started with the orange bucket and you go the other way. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:18.879 I don't know. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:23.440 But the the point is, is just discontentment sneaks in. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:25.440 It sneaks in on you. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.159 And you're perfectly fine bucket to start with. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:30.879 There was nothing wrong with that first bucket, right? 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:33.440 But discontentment sneaks in. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:39.120 And the thing that was fine, all of a sudden it's not fine anymore, and all of a sudden it's really not even about the bucket. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:43.279 It has nothing to do with the bucket, it has nothing to do with your car, it has nothing to do with your income. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.240 It has to do with redemption. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:52.799 It has to do with feeling atoned for before God, secure as a child. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:57.600 It has to do with your sin and the core of who you are, being at peace. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:06.720 And so you can spend your life looking at the next bucket and the next bucket and the next bucket and the next bucket, or you can understand they're just buckets. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:08.000 Just buckets. 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:09.919 They all kind of do the same thing. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.360 Just clothes, just investments. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:23.679 And you can recognize that you have over you the never-ending love of God given to you in Jesus. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:30.399 And you are adopted into the family as a secure child of God, and your identity is secure. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:36.639 And then buckets get to be to just be buckets, which is incredibly free. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:41.440 Brian read last week, 1 Timothy 6, 17. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:50.879 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:59.679 But on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.679 We all use an outside word for wealth. 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:05.360 All of us. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:12.080 We all use an outside word outside of us to feel rich with value. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:24.799 And Solomon has been on a rampage in this book to dismantle all the things we use to feel wealthy, to feel rich inside of ourselves. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:28.960 And he just goes through them all, like achievement and what we look like. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:36.879 He talks about sex, he talks about money, and he just says, Havel, Havel, Havel, vapor, vapor, vapor. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.200 It's there, and you think that's gonna do it, and it's gone. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:39.679 It's gone. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:40.559 That one, that's gone. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:42.720 That one, that one, that one's gone. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:52.879 And so point number four, the secure word of Christ is your wealth. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:17:00.879 I've been thinking a lot about this issue because this is hard for me. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:02.799 I mean, this is a tough one for me. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:06.880 And Brian read this quote, this killer quote last week by Thomas Chalmers. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:11.599 He quotes a couple hundred years old, and here's what Brian read last week. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:23.599 It is only when we realize that we are God's children through the faith that is in Jesus Christ, that the spirit of adoption is poured out upon us. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:40.799 It is then that the heart brought under the mastery of one great and supreme affection is delivered from the tyranny of its former desires, and the only way that deliverance is possible. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:52.640 And I needed last week's sermon, I need this week's sermon, I'm gonna need it again tomorrow morning because I love new buckets. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:59.759 They make me feel powerful, they make me feel new, they make me feel secure. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:09.279 But the thing is, is that they always get dull, they never quite deliver, and they actually hold tyranny over me because I always need the next one. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:15.759 And this is my sin, right? 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:24.880 I mean, anything but trusting in God's gift to you of Jesus to secure you and give you peace, anything other than that is sin. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:26.720 That's what sin is. 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:41.519 And the thing that relieves this endless search that we're all on, the thing that ends this is to know you don't have to go find and earn your wealth. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:46.000 Your wealth is given to you in Jesus. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:49.920 You you have been deemed a wealthy person. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:58.240 The core of who you are is rich with value. 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:14.799 And Jesus, God looks at you with compassion and love, and he looks at you, and he says, like, he looks at the one that's greedy and just endlessly saves and penny pitches and frets and hordes. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:19.599 And God looks at you and says, I I love that lady. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:21.680 She's mine. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:35.359 He looks at the one who overspends and keeps spending and buying, is trying to buy yourself out of a feeling of insecurity, inadequacy, or guilt, or shame. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:38.720 And God says, He's mine. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:41.839 I love that boy who's doing that. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:47.440 Jesus tells this parable in Luke 12 where a rich guy keeps getting more and more and more. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:48.400 He's doing really well. 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:49.680 Things are going great. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:53.680 He cannot hold the amount of grain he has in his barns. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:58.319 And so he says, All right, I'm gonna let's tear these barns down and let's build bigger barns. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:00.559 And we're gonna store all this grain in these barns. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.799 Nothing wrong with this up to this point in this passage. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:07.359 Nothing wrong, nothing wrong with earning and making and saving and stewarding, nothing wrong with this. 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:10.960 But then in verse 19 of Luke 12, he says this, this guy in the store. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:18.960 So he's saying to the core of who he is, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:23.359 Relax, eat, drink, be merry. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:31.519 So he says to his soul, the thing that will give you what you want are the goods. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:36.559 He's telling his soul, relief is found in the wealth of his good. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:47.440 See, we love money because we love stuff because we think it will give us control over our souls, over the core of who we are. 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:56.640 But it is the love for this control that puts God, pushes God kind of out into the corners of our soul. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:59.359 And it ends up, there are there's never enough barns. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:04.079 There's never enough buckets to make you feel like you're in control of your soul. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:12.880 So then Jesus says in verse 20, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:13.279 Right? 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:15.200 They're all vapor, Havel. 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:22.079 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself is and is not rich toward God. 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:32.400 So Jesus is saying you should be rich toward God, and literally, this is rich in your relationship toward God, or rich in God's sight. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.960 And the good news is that he doesn't see you. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:41.759 He doesn't see you because you are perfectly dealing with the idol of wealth. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.119 Good news. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:44.559 Good news for us. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:46.480 He sees you through Jesus' work. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:52.400 Priest and writer Robert Ferrer Capon, he comments on this parable, Luke 12. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:53.119 He says this. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:58.000 Here's the quote: Wealthy, poor, or in between, all of this is all of us. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:59.680 Wealthy, poor or in between. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:01.759 We are all of us. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:07.920 And Jesus' eyes nothing but unreconstructed, rich people. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:12.880 We clutch at our lives rather than open our hands to our deaths. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:21.440 And as long as we do that, the real life that comes only by resurrection remains permanently out of reach. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:25.279 So Capone is saying two things. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:28.559 He's saying, You're already rich. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:32.559 Because of Jesus' work for you. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:37.920 You're trying to fill that cup up inside your heart. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.000 You're already rich, it's already full. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:43.200 You need to become aware of it. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:57.759 So, my brothers and sisters, may you receive the grace to become aware of the great wealth of absolution and redemption and identity you have in Jesus. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:22:59.599 Let's pray. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:26.559 God, thank you that you deem us rich with purity, rich with righteousness, rich with value, not based on our perfect behavior before the idol of wealth or our perfect heart's position before the idol of wealth, but you see us as this because Jesus died for us. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:30.720 In your humility, you moved toward us. 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:37.039 While we're out trying to find our wealth, you find us and deem us rich. 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:41.920 Help us to remember we are already rich. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:57.359 Help us trust in Jesus' word more, that we might become aware of how wealthy you have deemed us in the core of who we are as your secure children. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:59.039 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:23:59.920 Amen.