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Episode 586: In this episode, we delve into the heart of Ecclesiastes 5, where we discuss Solomon's reflections on life, work, and wealth. We examine Solomon's struggles with the futility of his pursuits and the realization that despite his wisdom and riches, he often felt unfulfilled. We highlight his poignant observations about the nature of wealth, the pressures it brings, and the importance of enjoying life's simple pleasures.
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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. You're back, Chris, I am back better than ever. Who's back better than ever? Hey? I think I am better than ever? Really? Yeah, when I wake up every day, that's what I try to tell myself, Jeff. Better than ever. Okay, it's a new day and it's got better. Keep telling yourself. So, hey, I do this thing at our church has a gym called HFP Heritage Fitness Project, and Josh, one of the trainers, has a saying and so as you're working really hard, he always says, you're one percent better today. Yep, that's right. Better, that's all you got to do. Hey, think about it, right, that's a really great perspective. So so then in ninety nine days, you're right on the edge of being one hundred percent. You've doubled yourself, doubled yourself. That's right, twice as good as I was. It's a hundred days ago. That's right, every three months, every three months, right, Okay, Wow, there you got it for you, Chris, Yes, thank you. Good it is It is good for me. The unfortunate thing is. And our listeners just totally picked up on your flex. There by the way. You know, I go to the gym all the time. No, no, my trainer. Because what I'm about to say is is that, unfortunately, it's not true the order you get right, you can't be five years older and be one hundred and fifty percent better than Yeah. That's right, that's right, because you're not five years older. Right. So anyway, well, good, well, hey today, Chris, we have a very very big things. It's one of our most important segments. Yes, mail Banks rights, right, it's our only seg Well, it's not our only segment, but it's one of our only segments with its own theme song. Wait a minute, what else has the theme song? Oh well, we've sung a couple of times for other things. Okay, yeah, so anyways, dead joke Sarah Kay Hi, Sarah Hey, Sarah. Sarah Kay says what's the best concert or live performance you've ever been to? That's a good question. And then it says, p Jeff, you can't say it was hearing Chris sing on the podcast. Ha ha, Yeah for sure. Well, no, I don't know what I'm going to say, right right, I don't know what I'm going to say, because truly that was the case. I've been around some really great music, and yours this some music you see. The opera's his name, but the opera guy? Oh Andrealli? Yeah yeah, it's either me and the podcast or Andrea. Yeah oh yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, that's so funny. I just I know I know who he is. I just can't say his name correct. I don't want to Butcher, right, Okay, So are you go ahead? Yes? Okay, So I'm going to. Give you an answer that will probably surprise you, Okay, because I've been to, like you, probably quite a few concerts. I've been to. I mean, you know, I would say dozens and dozens, right, what fifty concerts? Maybe forty, I don't know, in your lifetime. You know, the kind you pay for and you go and it's a big deal. I would say my absolute best live performance I've ever been to, because it does say live performance is Lady Gaga in Las Vegas. Yeah. I think you've told us this before. Because it was unbelievable. Tony Bennett passed on to her the mantle of carrying the uh the baton for jazz, and so she did jazz and so what I had discovered is is that she is a phenomenal musician, and she's so technical, and she's so knowledgeable, and her performance, her ability to perform for the audience is almost higher than anybody I've ever seen. She's unbelievable, Okay, And what I mean by that is I mean like total respect. My respect for her went through the roof because you know, remember when she first came out. It was all goofy. It was just goofy stuff, right, It was just you know, how different can I look? Yes? Yes, And I just never could have imagined that she was who she is. Okay, Well, so I have a weird answer for you too. I don't think I've paid for a dozen concerts in my lifetime. Whoa, Yeah, I've played in hundreds of concerts. Yeah, yeah, but I don't think. I don't think I've paid for twelve concerts my whole life, for the for. The listeners who don't know, Jeff used to play the trumpet. Well, yeah, I guess I could say used to write. Sure, I don't play it very much anymore. Yeah, yeah, okay, And I don't play for money, yeah, for money anymore? Yeah. So yeah, I've played in hundreds of concerts, but I don't think I've ever paid to go more than maybe ten times. We love Broadway, but I've been to like five Broadway shows. I just we don't do the theater. I wouldn't consider that a concert, although maybe it is. Yeah, yeah, well they're singing and dancing. I know, but what what do you need? I call that a musical play, and I don't know concert. What it says or live performance. Oh it does say that live performance. Well then hey, hey reading, wait a minute, wait a minute, a minute, because now I'm changing my mind. Okay, it's got to be Wicked in New York. Yeah, I was gonna say, we saw Wicked in New York twice and I like that. Yeah, that was a good one. Yeah, that was good. We saw it with the original original Holy Christmas. Yeah, yeah, that's so phenomenal. That's a privilege. It was a few years into the show, you know. Yeah, so we had I was going to do a matinee and then we changed it. The first time we went and saw it and we changed it and went to the evening, and the evening was the two original cast members. So that was pretty great. That's crazy, is what that. Is hysterically funny because they'd done the show so many times that at this point they were fooling around with it and you know how they turn and look at the crowd anyways, or you know, break that wall. They were on purpose trying to make the other one laugh. It was. It was really funny. So that was great when when the characters are they're not breaking the wall entirely other than when are supposed to in the show, but they're on purpose trying to make the other one. Yeah, and you can. Get out a character, you can tell. It was hysterically funny. And then there were things where they were supposed to say a thing but they said a totally different thing. You know, stuff like that. Very very funny. So that was great. It was it was hystorically funny. I would say that was as far as live performances go, and we've been to a few Broadway shows, that's probably my favorite. As far as concerts go, I don't know. I the last time we saw Andrea Butchelli was pretty great just because of the level of musicianship. It is just insane through the roof. Yeah, you know what, as far as one of my favorite, let me say this because we have another another couple of seconds. One of my favorite experiences, and this is so dumb because it's not that high level, was my wife and I went to the Detroit Symphony and they they played the Princess movie, yes, and then they played all the music. But there's no music to Princess Bride if you've ever if you think through it, there's no soundtrack. Okay, music, so. Well they did that goofy music. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I mean there's not like just John Williams soundtrack. So I forgot which which symphony or which which writer did it, but somebody went back and redid the whole thing and it was magnificent. It was just fabulous, hysterically funny, the whole crowd shouting out all the lines, you know, and stuff like that. So that was a really fun night. And of course the Detroit Symphony is one of the top symphonies in the world. So yeah, and I'm I'm gonna say honorable mention the Rockets in New York. Oh you've said that before too. Yeah, yeah, it was. It was top notch. So okay, well there you go, Sarah Kay. We sorry to disappoint you on that one as much as we like music and shows. We kind of yeah, well I thought they were great answers, Jeff, I thought. We did well. Yeah, okay, yeah, yes, man, we did such a good job. Thanks for asking a good question, Sarah. So talking about doing a good job. Solomon is pretty miserable about his life and isn't so happy about all of his work. But he did a good job writing this. Yeah, good job, Solomon, job Solomon. People like you, got it, gun it? People love you. So we are in Ecclesiastes chapter five, and just as a reminder, if you're joining us for the first time this week, we've already gone a couple chapters. In the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon is incredibly wise. He's the wisest man apart from Jesus, that ever walked the planet. But yeah, but he made some really bad choices. So there's a different between being having wisdom and acting in a wise way. So he kind of fooled himself into being more clever than he was wise with regard to his diplomacy, and he winds up being led astray by all of his wives into worshiping other gods, and God winds up taking his kingdom away from him over it, Yeah, well, from his family. So by the time he gets to writing Ecclesiastes, he's kind of spiraling, like, man, I think I've wasted my life. None of my work matters, none of my wealth matters, none of the things I've done matter, right, And he's kind of spiraling. Every once in a while he'll say something really meaningful, like, oh I did learn this. You know, we should have learned to enjoy the fruit of our work every once in a while. There's wisdom in that. But then I'll start to spiral again, and then to come back out of it, and then they'll spiral again. And so what does that say about life? That here's the wisest man who has ever lived or will ever live and his downfall is women? Right? What does that tell you? That means? You know? It's like reminds me of the favorite joke we did last week. Did you do the joke with the arm and a leg with Adam and Eve? No, you didn't do it. I didn't do it. Did you read it? Though? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah yeah. So God approaches Adham, he creates him in the garden and says, hey, I'm going to create for you a creature that's so wonderful. She's going to be perfect, she's. Never gonna be moody, and she's going to be You're going to know exactly what she thinking at all times, and she'll always be pleasant. And he says, and she's gonna be called woman. And he goes, that sounds fantastic. And God says, this is going to cost you an arm and a leg, and he goes, Oh, what can I. Get for just a rib? So that's terrible, Chris, it's terrible. You're gonna so I seizar ball at the maible guys dot com. You have a tendency to avoid all that stuff. I do, man. I wrote it in. I wrote it in the message. I tossed it out there. And it's no surprise that you. I'm the one that always gets all the hate mail, right right. Yeah, So that was that was a funny. It was a funny one. It didn't fit in that spot where I was at in the message. That's what happened there. Yeah. So, if you don't know, we work in teaching teams and Chris is the leader of our teaching team, so often he'll send us up a proposed transcript for the message for the weekend. And I was speaking at one of our locations. He was speaking at the other, and he told the joke from stage and I did not yes, correct, correct, Yeah. So anyways, here he is now. And he repeats a number of things throughout the book, and one of those is he struggles with the value of work. He struggles with the injustices in life, and also with the futility of wealth. And so he says, don't be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful, and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land, for every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. Mouthful, even the king milks the land for his own profit. Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness. The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers. People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much, but the rich seldom get a good night's sleep. There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun, courting riches harms the saver. Money is put into risky investments, turn sour and everything is lost. In the end, there's nothing left to pass on to one's children. We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty handed as on the day we were born. We can't take our riches with us, and this too is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than they came. All their hard work is for nothing, like working for the wind. Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud, frustrated, discouraged, and angry. Even so, I've noticed one thing at least that is good. It's good for people to eat, drink and enjoy their work under the sun during their short life. God has given them to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life, this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past. There is another serious tragedy I've seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity. God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want. But then he doesn't give them the chance to enjoy these things. They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth, and this is meaningless, a sickening tragedy. A man might have one hundred children, live to be very old, but if he finds no satisfaction in life, doesn't even get a decent burial. It would have been better for him to be born dead. His birth would have been meaningless and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn't have even have had a name, and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man. He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else, well what's the use? All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough. So so are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others? Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless, like chasing the wind. He uses that phrase like chasing the wind over and over and over again. So well, there you go. Right, hey, I remember this passage, particularly chapter five sticks six. Excuse me, let me start over. It sticks out to me because when I was in high school, I had just become a Christian and I was reading through the New Testament. I get through that, and then I was going through the Old Testament, and you know how God does these things sometimes that seemed to be more than coincidence. And I was in Ecclesiastes and I had read it and in my mind, you know, just being a teenager not having any life experience at all, I read it and thought to myself, Okay, this is number one one of the most depressing things ever. Right. It feels like to me like Solomon is just you know, down on his luck or keep in mind, I'm. Fifteen at the time, right, so I just didn't quite know. So I thought to myself, here's a guy who's depressed and you know, he's just sitting there feeling sorry. For himself or something like this. I'm like, this is just an unrelatable chapter completely to me. And then I remember there was this guy that went to my church, and he was like, it didn't matter anyway. I just had a conversation with him, and I remember him saying, I relate to Ecclesiastes chapter five, And. I thought to myself, what like. I literally just read Ecclesiastes chapter five. And he had lived this story. He had lived having a ton of children, you know, pursuing wealth, having no satisfaction. You know, nobody really cared. For him, and he understood why he accepted that lot in life, and he had a fear of going to his deathbed thinking that he has absolutely made no impact in this world. Now, while the conversation was completely tragic, and it really truly was, especially for me being fifteen, it stood out to me and what brought what brought to my attention was is that, Wow, isn't it amazing how God's word is for everybody and what probably hopefully will never be able to be related to me. I can't read that and go wow, that's me. I could probably never do that. I mean principles, yes, right, but in terms like truth and wisdom. And all that, but really you say, wow, that's me. The richer you get, the more the more hangers on you have, everybody wants to spend all your money. Right, right. But you know what I'm saying, just just to whole like die and every imagine not I have been born that kind of thing. Sure, that kind of thing, and and uh but yet I'm thinking to myself, isn't it funny how God's word can speak to different people at different times? And and I just love it. And I also love how maybe perhaps you can go back and read ecclesiast these maybe twenty years later, and it would mean something completely different to you. Yeah, right, because you know, it's just how God's word is is very powerful. So as I mentioned, he kind of spirals, he goes in these really bad loops, and it's I think what you have is you know, at this point, he's made his mistakes, he's he's been informed he's gonna lose his kingdom. He's already tried to kill ray Boeham and so you've got a little bit of this. He's looking at his life and going, I wasted my life, Right, there's a little bit of this. Really, why did I spend so much time trying to get more money? I already had more money that could spend in my life. He's the richest man that had ever lived up to that point. To that point, yeah, and you know, kings and queens from around the world brought him even more wealth. And when we say bringing more wealth, remember when we talked about the Queen of Sheba. She brought him like a ton of gold, tons of gold. Yeah, billions of dollars. They just he was so absurdly wealthy. And yet he's saying, but I found myself chasing just a little more. And then I had so much power, but I found myself chasing just a little more. And so you find himself many times to here going, you know, the one thing I did learn, so the one good thing, he says, Even so I've noticed one thing at least that's good, And it's good for people to eat and drink and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life that God has given them and to accept their lot in life. He's like, you know, I think almost every time you see him spiraling for a minute, he pivots back. You'll give you something good. There's like always this good nugget, yea. And in here he's going like, you know, you know what I wish I'd done. I wish i'd stopped to smell the roses. I wish that stopped and pet the puppy. I wished I would have stopped and thrown the ball with the grandkids in the backyard. I wish that we would have gone to Disney one more time. I wish I would have right. I wished I would have spent my life doing the things that really matter, have you know, sitting down and taking time instead of getting all my food through the window in a drive through because I'm hurrying now into my next meeting. I wish we sat down for one more good meal. And there is something to that. There's a lot of people I know that have been very successful that matter of fact, I was with a guy in Naples, Florida a while back, and he's wealthy beyond comprehension to me. Just the amount of money this guy has is staggering to me. And he's he was about I think he's ninety now. So I was with him when he was like eighty eight, and he was with one of his best buddies who's wealthy, but not that wealthy. Right, when you're worth several million and you're around a guy worth hundreds of millions of dollars, right, you're just kind of yeah, you're hoping he picks up the check, right. And so we're at a little diner, do nothing diner. It's just it's one of those you know, with like the stainless steel and the shiny sign outside. You know, it's one of those, the stools of red and silver all in the building, all this stuff, the lady chewing bubblegum when she comes up and orders the food, and very clearly they're putting on this diner show. Yeah. So he it's his favorite little diner for breakfast. So we go there for breakfast, and he just clearly is a miserable person. He's done a lot of things. He has some health issues. But then his buddy got him laughing. Then he starts laughing and telling funny stories. And so he comes in grumpy, challenging me. I was with David Elms. He's challenging David Elms kind of a little foul because he's wanting to measure money and he's wanting measure investments. Then his buddy gets him laughing and then it starts to like poking fun and he's really sarcastic. So then he starts poking fun I was delighted at how funny he was. So I'm laughing. We're going back and forth, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, slamming each other, doing all these things. And next thing, you know, by the time we were done, he's like, I need more of these. How about I fly you guys down again next week, We'll do it again. Oh right. So you had this grumpy, old, very wealthy man great who laughed and laughed and laughed for a now when we decided, okay, we're not going to talk about money, and his buddy got him to pivot off of money and the funny things. All of a sudden it turns and funny, and he was just he went from being this guy that's just I got to control this dollar two and he's got so many dollars he can't control weall. Anyways, he's trying to give well, i'm not gonna say it, he's trying to give away hundreds of millions of dollars before he dies. So he's he's just uptight about it. And this is exactly what how I'm saying. He said, you know, poor people tend to think wealthy people have it all, you know, and it's just the best ever. And he said, man, wealthy people can't sleep. They're worrying all the time. Everybody wants something from them. People are trying to take advantage of them, right, So it's not how much money you have. What he finally says is I discovered enjoy the people you're with, Enjoy the meals you're having, learn to laugh a little bit, and enjoy your lot in life. And that's what I saw in that very wealthy man is he's like, Hey, I'm going to fly you guys down. We'll do this again next week. It was so much fun, and he was a totally different person in that moment. Yeah. Well, you know, there's a lot of wisdom in that sentence where Sulivon says God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take. No time to brood over the past. Yeah, and so I guess there's a hint of enjoying in there. But there's something also, you know, whise about reflection, because isn't it true you can get through seasons of your life where you live so much in the present, meaning like the only thing in the future that's on your mind is like, what do I have to do? Today or this week, just to get through this present season, right. And if you live like that sometimes for years people live, then then it's one of those things where you look back. Those are the people, by. The way, who get to the end of their life and say, where did all the time go? And I can't believe that they were this big five minutes ago, you know, because they're just trying to do the daily grind. And so, yeah, somebody who enjoys their lot in life, accepts it, reflects on the past, appreciates it. You know. If you're a person who really truly soaks up the moment, then I don't think you're gonna I don't think you're going to ever really get to the place where you're going to say, where did all the time go? I think you're going to say, wile time went quick, But I don't think you're going to say, holy cow, where did it all go? I missed it? I missed it? Yeah. Yeah. The note Life application study by Able says God wants us to view what we have, whether it's much or little, with the right perspective. Our possessions are a gift from God. Although they are not the source of joy, they are a reason to rejoice, because every good thing comes from God. We should focus more on the giver than the gift. We can be content with what we have when we realize that in God we have everything we need. Yeah, and that great, that's great. And that's really the essence of this passage. So when you see this guy who's kind of spiraling and struggling with his decisions, he does give you these glimpses of what really matters. And so whenever I read Ecclesiastes, I plow through all the negative because his feelings aren't necessarily true, they're just feelings, right, But every once in a while he gives you this nugget of what really does matter, And there's a lot of value with somebody that you would look at and go, he has everything I want. And then he finally distills it down into sentences like that, I say, this is what really matters. And so the whole book is peppered with those kinds of things. But ultimately, it's way easier to be happy with what you have when you realize you have everything you need in God. Right, that's great, that's great. Well, that sounds like a great place to end, and hopefully we will see you tomorrow. On the Bible gods