Got wealth? Is it worth anything? For how long? What is worthy wealth?
The dismal "Teacher" known as Ecclesiastes reviews all of the ways of life and invokes a refrain "all is vanity and a chasing after the wind." The Teacher, whose lesson emphasizes the value of wisdom, can't see the ultimate difference between the wise and the fool since both will die and be forgotten before long. All human striving is "vanity and a chasing after the wind."
The accumulation of wealth is similarly shown to a a matter of "vanity and a chasing after the wind."
The Teacher does point to the blessing of God: "To the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy." The other noteworthy instance of positive, helpful commentary comes in Eccles. 11:1-2. These statements have implicit values that reflect how wealth and meaning can be identified and understood.
Jesus gets challenged by someone in the crowd who wants Jesus to issue a legal pronouncement on an inheritance issue. Wisely, Jesus steers clear of that, but uses the occasion for a teaching about wealth. The parable of the rich fool connects nicely with the teaching in Ecclesiastes. The parable challenges the worldly, self-centered view of wealth accumulation, pushing the listener to understand how true treasure - worthy wealth - gets achieved.
Get the whole story in the sermon video below, and in the downloads below the video panel.
The dismal "Teacher" known as Ecclesiastes reviews all of the ways of life and invokes a refrain "all is vanity and a chasing after the wind." The Teacher, whose lesson emphasizes the value of wisdom, can't see the ultimate difference between the wise and the fool since both will die and be forgotten before long. All human striving is "vanity and a chasing after the wind."
The accumulation of wealth is similarly shown to a a matter of "vanity and a chasing after the wind."
The Teacher does point to the blessing of God: "To the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy." The other noteworthy instance of positive, helpful commentary comes in Eccles. 11:1-2. These statements have implicit values that reflect how wealth and meaning can be identified and understood.
Jesus gets challenged by someone in the crowd who wants Jesus to issue a legal pronouncement on an inheritance issue. Wisely, Jesus steers clear of that, but uses the occasion for a teaching about wealth. The parable of the rich fool connects nicely with the teaching in Ecclesiastes. The parable challenges the worldly, self-centered view of wealth accumulation, pushing the listener to understand how true treasure - worthy wealth - gets achieved.
Get the whole story in the sermon video below, and in the downloads below the video panel.
| 07-31-16-ff-answers.pdf |
| 07-31-16-whats_worthy_wealth.pdf |