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Wealth is on Loan, Not Owned: Ecclesiastes' Urgent Message for Today

• Jason Cline

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Solomon, perhaps history's wealthiest man with an estimated $2 trillion in today's currency, offers us profound insight into the meaninglessness of pursuing wealth as an end in itself. His words in Ecclesiastes cut straight to our hearts: "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income."

Wrestling with our purpose and meaning often leads us to uncomfortable places. The pastor opens by sharing his own struggle with contentment despite having enough. This universal human condition—wanting more than we have—directly connects to Solomon's ancient wisdom. Like John D. Rockefeller who, when asked how much money was enough, replied "just a little bit more," we find ourselves trapped in cycles of accumulation that never satisfy.

Modern psychology confirms what Scripture declared thousands of years ago: wealth only significantly increases happiness when it lifts people from poverty to middle class. Beyond that threshold, additional money brings diminishing returns to our wellbeing. This scientific observation validates Solomon's perspective that pursuing wealth for its own sake is "chasing after wind."

What makes this message particularly powerful is that it doesn't condemn having possessions. Instead, it reframes our relationship with them. "Everything you have belongs to God," the pastor reminds us, challenging the notion of ownership itself. When we recognize ourselves as stewards rather than owners, we're freed to both enjoy what we have and use it for God's purposes.

The story of missionary Jim Elliott, who gave his life sharing the gospel in Ecuador, captures this principle perfectly: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." This profound statement reminds us that our ultimate pursuit should be the eternal, not the temporary.

Ready to reexamine your relationship with wealth and possessions? This episode offers both challenge and freedom—challenging our cultural obsession with accumulation while freeing us to enjoy what we have as gifts from God. Subscribe now to continue exploring how ancient wisdom speaks directly to our modern condition, offering perspective that transforms how we live today.

Speaker 1:

so I had this reflection probably about a couple of days ago and the last like two months of my life I don't want to say I've been depressed, because that's not the right word, but I've been noticing that I've been feeling like a certain way about things and I've really been like just kind of looking in my own life and my own purpose and kind of my, what am I doing, what are the things that I'm trying to accomplish? And so it's been driving me nuts because I really like I don't like being that kind of person, Like I try to be fun and exciting and you know, but like it was really bothering me. And so I was sitting down the other day and I was actually doing some sermon prep and I had this epiphany although it's not really an epiphany, it's more or less just because I don't pay attention all the time that I think a lot of my struggle is because what Solomon is writing is convicting, it's challenging. The Word of God has this incredible ability to kind of self-reflect. As we read it, we connect ourselves, we see the stories, we understand the situation, and so, as I'm going through Solomon's words and listen, the first six chapters are fairly depressing. He comes to the conclusion that life is it's hevel, it's meaningless, nothing is worth anything. And then you're forced to kind of look at your own life and think, well, what am I doing? What am I pursuing? I always like to think that I'm pursuing noble things, that everything I do, every idea that I have, has to be good, and the truth is it's not always true. I'm human, I'm finite, I make mistakes, right.

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So here Solomon is reflecting on his own personal life, and this is a man who you have to understand. He had so much money, he had so much. You talk about someone who's never been in need. It was him. He had everything he could ever, anything his heart desires, and he was wise, incredibly wise, not just like scholarly wise, I mean. This guy was like he could have planted schools, wise, his intelligence was over the roof. And he's looking back on his life and he's looking at all the things that he's tried to accomplish and he's realized that outside of God the pursuit of God none of these matter. So today we're going to talk about wealth, and I'm not just talking about money, right, I think a lot of times we talk about wealth, we think about money and finances. I'm thinking about our skills, the things we do like. Rich in family, rich in friends, some of us are rich in intelligence, rich in creativity. It's not just about money, but here Solomon's going to reflect heavily on money.

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But before he does this and this is important, if you go to the beginning of chapter five, before he starts talking about the pursuit of money, he chooses to write seven verses to put God into proper perspective. So Ecclesiastes 5, 1 through 7, it says Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than offer the sacrifice of fools who do not know that they do wrong. He says Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. He says to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin and do not protest to the temple messenger. My vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry at you when you say and destroy the work of your hands Much dreaming in many words are meaningless. Therefore, fear God.

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So he starts out by he's talking about the temple Solomon built the greatest temple that ever existed. David wasn't able to do it. Solomon and all of his wisdom and wealth did, and temple life was important. It's where you found God. It was a place, it was a location, and Solomon is saying listen as you approach the temple. He doesn't even say temple, he says as you approach God, guard your steps, watch what you say, understand that he is above and you are below, and I think it's such an interesting point that he starts here, because I think that culturally, we've seen kind of a weird shift right.

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So when you go back to the time of Jesus, the problem the Pharisees had is they made God almost unapproachable. They had all these rules We've talked about this before 630-some rules that you had to follow. You had to dress a certain way, be a certain way, act a certain way, and if you couldn't do these things, you weren't allowed in. So many people were almost ostracized. God seemed like an idea, not a reality. And then Jesus came along. And Jesus shows us that he really has a problem with that, because he wants people to understand that God is relational. And so here you have the Son of God sitting with sinners, eating meals with them, touching lepers, healing the blind, healing on the Sabbath. He's doing all of the things the Pharisees refused to do, because the Pharisees had made God unattainable. And then Jesus shows up and he actually upsets the balance. And then now, culturally, we're at a place where and I don't know how to say this lightly, but it's not that Jesus didn't make God approachable, because he is that's what makes God unique he's relational.

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But we've almost lost the reverence of who God is. We treat him so much like a friend sometimes that we forget that he's holy and he's perfect and he's righteous and, as Solomon says, that he sits in the heavens as you and I sit below on the earth. And so he says, as you approach God, guard your steps, be aware of what you say, be aware of what you do, be aware of what you say, be aware of what you do, be aware, as you approach God, that you are speaking to the one who rises above you. You are speaking to the one who always was and always will be. You are speaking to the one who created you. Yes, he loves you, he has a relationship with you, but he is still God.

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And so, with that lack of reverence, I feel like we also have reached a culture that there's a lack of obedience. So many people they look at the scriptures and they think, hey, this is a really good self-help book, I don't really have to do what this says. We have churches. That, and listen, I'm not. I have no way of trying to come at churches. Because, as someone who I've been playing music since I was what? 15 years old, right, worship music is a huge part of my life. It always has been.

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The right song can change my whole day, right? The right experience, the right emotional response to the worship of God is healthy. It's supposed to be. God gave us emotions. Listen, I am 100% convinced when we get to heaven we are not going to all stand there in the presence of God and go Hallelujah, like it'd be boring, and I hope that I'm next to someone who is, because I'm going to like kick them nicely, like sing, like you know. But there's nothing wrong with having an emotional response.

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But the problem is we chase that sometimes that emotional high is. We chase that sometimes that emotional high. And so if we don't experience God at an emotional level, then we think and we assume that God's not there and that's just not true. God doesn't change, he's not. And so Solomon is saying as you approach God, remember who he is, remember that he's sovereign, remember that reverence in the worship of God comes with acts of obedience. It's not just about do I feel him all the time, because you guys can probably attest to this, the longer you're a Christian, there are moments in life when I don't feel God very much. But it doesn't change anything for me, it shouldn't.

Speaker 1:

And so Solomon lays this out, and then now he's about to get into a conversation of wealth, which is a hard one. Let me tell you that the one thing that almost anybody ever any conversations I ever hear is people hate when churches talk about money, and I get it. It can be kind of frustrating, but I promise you they're not trying to buy me a jet. Okay, no one's buying me a jet. We're not talking about money for the sake of me to ride around in the nice cars or to live in a $10 mansion. We're talking about money in the sense of God has given us resources, and the resources here he has given us are supposed to be used for his benefit, his glory.

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When John D Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest men in history, was asked, someone asked him once how much money is enough? His reply is just a little bit more. John D Rockefeller died in 1937, and his net worth at the time was $1.4 billion. In today's world, he would be sitting at about $24 billion. So one of the wealthy. He owned 1.5% of the entire US economy and when asked about money, his response was I just need a little more. It's interesting, right, what the pursuit of money does. Everything that he had almost like Solomon. His reflection is it's not enough. Now look at Solomon. By conservative estimates, solomon's wealth today would be about $2 trillion $2 trillion. Can you even fathom $2 trillion? And so Solomon has so much money, so much gold, so much wealth.

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And when he reflects back on his life, and if someone were to ask him the same question how much money is enough? As we read through Ecclesiastes 5, his answer is not money, not more, not more money, but more God. That's what he says. That's the conclusion that he's going to come to. It's not more money. I have more money, but for some reason I'm lacking God.

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So Ecclesiastes 5, 8 through 20, it says If you see the poor oppressed in a district, injustice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. The increase from the land is taken by all. The king himself profits from the fields. If that doesn't speak to the truth of the life we live in, those who sit at the top keep getting more. Verse 10, it says whoever loves money never has enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefits are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.

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I have seen a grievous evil under the sun wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, or wealth lost through some misfortune. So when they have children, there's nothing left for them to inherit. Everyone comes naked from their mother's womb, and as everyone comes so they depart, they take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. This too is a grievous evil. As everyone comes, so they depart. And what do they gain? Since they toil for the win All their days, they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.

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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. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and to be happy in their toil, this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart. So here he is. He's saying listen, money is meaningless, the pursuit of it is meaningless. We all end the same. So we came naked from our mother's womb, so we will depart. But he gets to the end of the passage and he says but I've seen this that those who have should enjoy what they have. There's nothing wrong with enjoying what we have.

Speaker 1:

I think that's where we get confused sometimes, because sometimes we feel like it's wrong for us to have things, it's wrong for us to be successful, it's wrong for us to have nice things. I remember years ago and listen, it's a church mentality, not always, but my wife and I, the second church we were at, we went out and bought a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 142,000 miles on it, and it was 2015 is when I bought it. So what's that? 12 years old? So we bought this car right. And I remember we came to church next Sunday and one of the older gentlemen came in the church, came out the church, shook my hand and said we must be paying you pretty well. And I was like what he's like? Well, you clearly can buy nice cars. And I'm like, yeah, it's 12 years old and has 150,000 miles on it, so you must be going good for yourself, good for you. And I'm like I was kind of baffled. I'm like, first off, thanks for paying attention to what I drive. I appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

But there was this weird mentality that like, well, you're in ministry, you got to be poor. No, like, listen, solomon's not saying money is bad. He's not Having money is not a bad thing. Actually, he says the opposite. He said, if God has blessed you and given you more than others, eat, drink and find satisfaction in it, but understand that that's from God. It's not yours, it's been loaned to you. Yours, it's been loaned to you. Everything you have is because God has allowed it to happen.

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What he says is he says the pursuit of money is meaningless Chasing after it, so much so that you miss out on your life. You miss out on opportunities that, according to Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, economists and psychologists have spent listen. I found this to be a fascinating, fascinating study spent decades studying the relation between wealth and happiness and have generally concluded that wealth increases human happiness when, and only when, it lifts people out of abject poverty and into the middle class, but that it does little to increase happiness thereafter. That's such a fascinating idea because, like one, solomon is saying this, but psychology is proving that having more money doesn't make you happier. It doesn't. It never will. If anything, it lacks. Rockefeller said it All I need is more. All I need is just a little more. You know, chasing money, the pursuit of wealth, causes us to. It becomes a god.

Speaker 1:

I know that I've talked about this before, but at some point between where I was before I came here, I was chasing a figure. I was working tirelessly, effortlessly, to try to get myself into a position. All I wanted a couple years ago was a six-figure income. Never had one. I just wanted to see what it was like to have that much money, and I came to the conclusion after about two years that it just wasn't worth it Because I was going to have more money than I had ever imagined. But I was going to have more money than I had ever imagined, but I was going to lose my family. Danny and I were in a bad spot. I never saw my kids when we first moved here.

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The first conversation she had, about a month after we got here, was like I'm really happy that I don't have to protect the kids from you anymore. And I was like hold on. I was like what did you? What she's like? I've never heard our kids. She's like I'm really happy that I don't have to protect the kids from you anymore and I was like hold on. I was like what she's like? I've never hurt our kids. She's like I know, but she's like you would come home from work and you were so stressed out that the smallest little inconvenience from them, you were screaming.

Speaker 1:

The pursuit of wealth is meaningless. It doesn't bring joy, it doesn't bring satisfaction, it never will, it can't. So the question is what do we do with what God has given us? That's what Solomon is wrestling with. He says listen, whether wealthy or poor, everything you have belongs to God. And I need to say that because there are people who read this passage and say, well, if I just have a lot of money, then this is talking to me. No, no, he's talking about everything, because wealth looks different for everyone. Right, the idea of being wealthy? You and I live in a country where most of us are considered wealthy compared to everyone else. I mean, think about it. Rockefeller 1937 controlled 1.5 percent of the world's wealth. We, we, we have more now than we've ever had before, even if we feel like we don't.

Speaker 1:

And again, solomon is saying listen, everything you have belongs to God, so whatever he's given you, enjoy it. I realized this week that I'm probably one of the most discontent people in the world. I realized this week that I'm probably one of the most discontent people in the world. I don't like that. And listen, so much of that is who I am Like. I always want more, I always want the next thing, I always want whatever they have. I try really hard not to, but I look at people, I look at other churches, I look at everything and sometimes I find myself stuck that if I just had this, I would be happy, if I just had this amount of money. And when we go through these passages I told you I think God is working on me and I believe that because he needs me to help me to understand that it's not about the things that I have, it's about the pursuit of him. Solomon says whatever God has given you, enjoy it. Don't be ashamed to do that, but don't lose sight of what you have, because you're chasing after things you might never get. Ecclesiastes 6, 1-12. This kind of wraps up the first half of the book.

Speaker 1:

Solomon writes I have seen another evil under the sun and it weighs heavenly on mankind that God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so they lack nothing in their heart's desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy it and strangers enjoy them instead. This is a meaningless, a grievous evil. A man may have a hundred children and live many years and yet, no matter how long he lives, even he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial. I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness and in darkness its name is shrouded, though it has never saw the sun or knew anything. It has, and I realize he's using strong language. He's saying To the child, who was never born. They are better off than those who have pursued wealth and found nothing.

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Verse 7,. It says the roving and the appetite. This too is meaningless chasing after the wind. Whatever exists has already been named and what humanity is has been known. No one can contend with someone who is stronger. The more the words, the less the meaning. And how does that profit anyone? For who knows what is good for a person in life during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what happens under the sun after they are gone?

Speaker 1:

Again, solomon is looking in his life and saying everything that I've done to this point, what am I chasing after? What am I investing my time and my energy in? What am I supposed to be doing? And again, chapter 6 kind of ends the first half of this book and we'll get into chapter 7 next week. But Solomon comes to the conclusion that everything I have, not only is it given to me by God, but the only time that I really find joy is when I use it for God. That's where he's going to find himself. He looks at his life and he realizes that I have everything that I've ever wanted, but I'm missing God, I'm missing the point of this right.

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So when I was in Africa last year, it was so weird to me because culturally it's like it's a whole different world. Man, like I mean, it's absolutely crazy. Culturally it's like it's a whole different world. Man, like I mean, it's absolutely crazy. And and and one of the things that I found fascinating is the kids. There were some of the happiest kids I've ever seen in my life.

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There's a kid there by the name of simon, that, uh, he had one pair of shoes we talked about that. He had a pretty nice pair of jeans. That was his only pair of jeans. He had a couple shirts and really every time I saw him I was almost there for two weeks he wore the same outfit. He didn't really have any options and we had a lot of conversations about what he was doing. And he was actually living in what they call a child's camp, like a child's home, and the reason he was there is because he was abandoned when he was little. His parents couldn't take care of him and he's 17. He did turn 17. He just turned 17.

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He recently got a Facebook, which I think is funny, because he added me and I was like who do I know in Africa, and I was like, oh yeah, simon, and we spent a lot of time just talking about his life and his dreams and his hopes and what he wants to do. And he's a musician quite talented. He writes rap. It's not my thing, but he's really good at it. But every day, in the circumstance that he was in, I saw a kid who was just genuinely happy. He knew that he had three meals a day, he knew that he had a nice place to sleep and he took really good care of his shoes. I remember that because there was a lot of dirt where we are and he always had a rag and he was walking around like wiping his shoes off as he went, but he valued what he had because it wasn't much. And then you come back and you see people who have more than they need. You see people that have so much and listen, even in my own life, like as I walked into my house, coming back the realization that I could get rid of half of this stuff. And again, solomon in his pursuit is not saying having things is bad. What he's saying is don't forget that they're not yours anyways. Enjoy what God has given you. Enjoy the things that you have. Use them for the purposes of God, use them for his kingdom, to bring people to the knowledge of him, because that's the only way you and I find happiness.

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There's a missionary by the name of Jim Elliott. If you've ever seen the End of the Spear, I think it came out in 2005. Jim Elliott was a missionary. He was born in Portland, oregon. He grew up in a Christian family. He went to Wheaton College. I thought it was cool and he decided to do mission work.

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So in the early 1950s, elliot and his wife Elizabeth moved to Ecuador to share the gospel with an indigenous tribe. His particular focus was the Hurani, then called the Aka, a people group known for being hostile to outsiders. But Jim knew that the pursuit of God was more important, because these people did not know who God was. They were pursuing a life without Christ and he needed them to know who Jesus was. So, january of 1956, jim and four other missionaries gentlemen's names were Nate Saint Ed McCauley, peter Fleming and Roger Udarian they attempted direct contact with the Harani people and, shortly after landing, near the river as they landed, as soon as they landed, as they got out, they were speared to death near the river as they landed. As soon as they landed, as they got out, they were speared to death. Jim was 28 years old. These men were doing everything they could to take the gospel to the world that did not know it and in the process they died. Not know it and in the process they died.

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Now, you and I, we look at that and we would say why would you do that? I mean, he had a family, he had kids, he had a wife. Why would you sacrifice for an opportunity to share the gospel with people that you knew could possibly kill you? In his journal that they found, he wrote this. He said he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Like Solomon, he understood that his life had a purpose, and it wasn't the pursuit of money, it wasn't the pursuit of things. It wasn't even the pursuit of family. It was the pursuit of things. It wasn't even the pursuit of family, it was the pursuit of the gospel. His death would go on to inspire one of the largest missions and movement in the world. His wife, elizabeth, would eventually go back and live among the Hiorani people. She took her daughter and because of his faith and because of her faith, many in that tribe came to faith in Christ. There's even a gentleman who was part of that village that actually baptized Jim's daughter. Later on in life he said he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

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Solomon understood that chasing after wealth is a vain pursuit. It doesn't satisfy If anything. Having more money creates problems, he says listen, enjoy it, enjoy what God has given you. There's nothing wrong with that. But the pursuit of God is more important than the things you have. If you have Jesus, you have everything, even if it doesn't feel like it.

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On this side, this side of heaven, man, it's tough. I said this a lot and I love my kids because they have no concept of money. They all want Teslas when they get older and I'm like I don't know what you want to do. Where are you going to get money for a Tesla? Griffin's like, well, you'll buy it. I'm like, no, I won't. Like I don't think you understand how this works. Right, but again, it's not just money. I don't want to raise my kids to think that they need things, that things are more important than the pursuit of God, because God's the only thing that satisfies, and if God has given you much, enjoy it. If God has given you little, enjoy it, but don't lose sight of Him. Don't lose sight of the pursuit of him. In the end, all that really matters is the pursuit of the one who created us. Everything else already belongs to him. It's all his. All the money in the world, every possession, even our closest relationships, eventually will fade away. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the things that God has given us we're supposed to do. God gives them to us for our enjoyment, but he also gives us all the things we have so that we can further the pursuit of him.

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When we talk about money in churches, it's a sore subject, and I get it. There's a lot of people out there. There's a lot of people who abuse it. The health and wealth, prosperity gospel. We tell people if you give 100 bucks, you'll walk out of here with 1,000. Listen, the only way you walk out of here with 1,000 is if you rob the offering plate. Don't be that person. But we talk about the church culture is you know? We keep giving, keep giving, listen.

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I believe giving to the church matters. Not for me, though, because I think that the giving to the kingdom of God. The giving to a church in general is important to further the kingdom of God, because the more resources we have, the more lives we can change, the bigger impact we can have. It's not about look at us, look at us, look at what we have. Even like we talk about this, we're praying and trusting God for what's coming next with our own building. Right, none of that is for us. We are not building a building to say that refocused Christian church built a building. We are building a building so we can have more space, so that more people can find Jesus. That has to be our pursuit of all things. Everything God has given us, even here in this place, is for his glory, his kingdom, his glory, his kingdom. All of this is on loan to us. The pursuit of money is meaningless. The pursuit of God is priceless. Let's pray.