We have seen the value of community followed by the proper way a community is to approach God, namely with reverence. Now we add another essential ingredient to the fulfilled life—joy.
Pray and Read Ecclesiastes 5:8-20.
Periods of transition create anxious feelings. Mostly revolve around uncertainty about the future. I get worried when things are out of my control, almost everything is!
We all have guilt and emotional baggage. We perpetuate the cycle of guilt by repeated failure. Since we’re so uncomfortable with those feelings we suppress them.
We do this with God and others.
Although they often drive our decisions…status and wealth will never provide the joy that flows from a grateful heart.
Maybe you’re inexperienced with power, wealth, and bankruptcy, but the underlying emotional damage is universal:
1. You Can Be Filled With Anxiety (8-12)
2. You Can Be Filled With Shame (13-17)
3. You Can Be Filled With Joy (18-20)
I. You Can Be Filled With Anxiety (8-12)
Trust in the government (8-9):
8 Oppressive officials support one another, looking out for each other’s interests. The Preacher is not condoning oppression, but he is suggesting that we shouldn’t be surprised by it.
Unfortunately, progressives in America have made such a mockery of oppression by finding it everywhere. (Cue the scene from Monty Python: “Come and see the violence inherent in the system! HELP! HELP! I’m being repressed!”) Now, we’ve gotten to the point where we need to acknowledge that it does actually exist in most political systems throughout history.
Maybe you don’t feel oppressed, but you feel unheard. The basic point that might actually bring you some sense of relief is that this is inevitable in a fallen world. While you should not trust in the government…
9 Still a corrupt ruler > anarchy, because they ensure production (food and jobs).
Our hope is in a Righteous Ruler.
Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Trust in wealth (10-12):
10 The lover of money accumulates goods to no end. He’s never satisfied!
Kidner If anything is worse than the addiction money brings, it is the emptiness it leaves.
John D. Rockefeller was asked how much money was enough, to which he responded, “Just a little bit more.” Money never satisfies our craving. The same could be said for power. Those who have it always want more.
11 Increased goods = increased consumers (government, children, freeloaders).
12 Laborers experience the sweetest sleep. Rich can’t sleep because they’re bloated and gassy from overeating.
Some of you, clearly don’t get enough sleep. Always nodding off right about now.
Insomnia in America: 30-35% suffer briefly. 15-20% disorder 3mos. 10% chronic (3x/wk). Unsure why women > men (twice)—hormonal. Cause: Worrying (work, family, money).
You cannot serve two masters—God and money (Matt 6:24). Maybe you aren’t chasing more money, but you haven’t been able to sleep.
Hear this promise…
Psalm 127:2 ESV
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
› Anxiety often gives way to…
II. You Can Be Filled With Shame (13-17)
Lose everything (13-15):
Someone works and stores up his wealth and loses it all with one bad decision. No inheritance. He dies naked, just like he came into the world (Job 1:21). What’s the gain for someone like him? This is a tragedy without a happy ending.
It serves as a warning. Don’t let this happen to you! Implication: Do your best to leave something for your children!
Proverbs 13:22 ESV
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.
But don’t make this mission your ultimate mission. Don’t set all of your hopes on that goal or you will set yourself up for more disappointment.
Live in isolation (16-17):
Unable to enjoy the fruit of his labor, filled with “vexation and sickness and anger.” Close yourself off from everyone. Pain of own conscience.
Does the shame of failure keep you isolated? Shame discourages community. Only those secure in their relationships can be vulnerable. Shame increases where vulnerability lacks. Unexpressed shame compounds itself.
All of us at various points experience seasons of oppression, sleepless nights, and shameful loss. How do we cope with that? Do we suppress it? Do we run away and hide? Do we retaliate and lash out against anyone who “makes” us feel those things? All of those reactions are common, but not healthy.
The solution to anxiety and shame is not to strive harder to maintain power and hold onto your wealth…
› It’s much more simple than that…
III. You Can Be Filled With Joy (18-20)
Consider the gifts of God (18-19):
18 This verse contrasts with those who have everything, but cannot enjoy their wealth (Eccl 6:1-6).
19 Regardless of your status/possessions, enjoy the work and reward. Wealth and status can enhance joy when it is not your purpose for living.
1 Timothy 6:17 ESV
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
Solomon received wealth and honor because he didn’t ask for them, then they led to his demise because he made them ultimate…
“Eat and drink” implies companionship. Joy brings us into community, where we share with others.
Enjoy them without reservation (20):
Does that describe you? Gratitude journals aren’t “new.” Laugh now, analyze later. Capture the moment, not the selfie!
In The Soul of Shame, Curt Thompson writes:
“The defining relational motif for humankind is not that we need to work as hard as we can, or at least harder than we are. It is not to do our best or to guarantee that our children will have a better life than we had. It is not about being right or the acquisition of power. Each of those (and other visions like them) play into the hand of shame’s anxiety [Combines Pts. 1 & 2]. No—rather, we were created for joy. Not a weak and watery concept of joy that merely dilutes our sadness and pain. Rather it is the hard deck on which all of life finds its legs, a byproduct of deeply connected relationships in which each member is consummately known.”
Joy will compound when we feel accepted for who we are. When we have the freedom to express our shame, knowing that we won’t be rejected.
Conclusion
We become such experts at suppressing anxiety and shame we don’t notice our lack of joy.
But Jesus knows…
Isaiah 53:3–5 ESV
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Jesus felt your anxiety, bore your shame, and carried your sorrows on the cross. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever feel them anymore, but it does mean that there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So you can cast your cares upon him—including your anxious thoughts and shame.