The Money Monster or Master

“The Money Monster or Master” Ecclesiastes 5:8-20

Vs 10: “Whoever loves money never has money enough”

The (Warnings) or Grievous Evils of Money: (Vs 8-17)  

Vs 8-9: “If you see the poor oppressed in a district” The grievous evil of envy

• ‘Lust of the eye’ 1John 2:16 ‘the eye never has enough of seeing’

· The moral: (envy) the more you see – the more you want.

Vs 10: “Whoever loves money never has money enough” The grievous evil of loving money

· The love of money is the “root of all kinds of evil” 1Timothy 6:10

• 1Timothy 6:9 “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”
• The moral: (love money) the more you have – the more you want.

Vs 11: “as goods increase so do those who consume them” The grievous evil of poor stewardship

• We’re all broke just at different levels. Proverbs 21:20 “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil but a foolish man devours all he has.”
• The moral: (poor stewardship) the more you have – the more you spend.

Vs 12-13: “The sleep of a laborer is sweet but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep…wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner” The grievous evil of financial extravagance

• Proverbs 23:4 “Do not wear yourself out to get rich, have the wisdom to show restraint.”
• The moral: (extravagance) the more you have – the more you worry.

Vs 14-17: “wealth lost through some misfortune…there is nothing left for him…he takes nothing from his labor...” The grievous evil of losing it all because of greed

• Proverbs 23:5 “Cast but a glance at riches and they are gone for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”
• The moral: (greed) the more you have – the more you lose.

The Remedy: (Vs 18-20)

1. Embrace w____________ hard. Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do work at with all your heart as working for the Lord not for men.”  

2. Embrace God’s w____________ of stewardship. Psalm 50:12 “for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”

• I control my destiny! I control my destiny? Deuteronomy 8:17-18

3. Embrace being s______     with what God values. 1Timothy 6:6-8 “But godliness with contentment is great gain…” (hint: not of this world – Matthew 6:33)

• How much satisfaction (gladness of heart) am I living with?

Mastering Money begins and ends with mastering God’s principles on handling it!