Morning Sermon

October 26, 2008

Insatiable Appetites

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Depending upon how you look at it, Andrew Lahde is either among the wisest or the most foolish of all men in this country. You see, he quit his job last week. It was a job that had made him a millionaire in a very, very short period of time. He was a Hedge Fund manager, selling or short-selling stocks and securities that he didn't own, betting that they would lose value. He would borrow the stocks on loan, sell them himself, and when they actually lost value, only then would he in fact buy them and return them to the lender, having already sold them at a higher price. The risk, of course, was that if he bought stocks that gained value, he would lose money when he sold them. Is there any wonder our financial system is in a grave crisis?

So on October 17th, he quit. In his own words, "I am writing to say goodbye. Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, "What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it." I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list those deserving thanks know who they are...I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives [stink]...What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out...I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life."

Ah, a wise man, leaving behind the vain pursuit of riches and wealth before that pursuit kills him. But a foolish man, demonstrating by his own life the very essence of why we cannot enjoy our own earthly and worldly possessions. That problem was our subject last week, a common experience among men.

v.2 "A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction."

Today the emphasis is upon why that is so. Why that experience of dissatisfaction and discontentment is such a common experience for so many of us. And the answer begins with the realization of,

I. A NATIVE FLAW. That is to say, something within us that operates wrongly. Something within our own hearts that sows the seed of discontent, and Solomon defines that native flaw for us in, v.7

Have you ever eaten so much that you actually began to not feel very well? You eat beyond the point of hunger, beyond the point of satisfying your stomach. Something other than your mouth was crying out for the enjoyment of that food. An appetite other than your mouth. Your soul.

For some people, that temptation comes with alcohol. While alcohol is clearly permitted in moderation by Scripture, there is something in the soul of a man that drives him to drink until he's drunk. Many a man has little killed himself, literally, because the appetite of the soul was never satisfied. It's called, addiction.

For some, it's drugs. Others, the pursuit of money. Or pleasure, sexual or otherwise. Comfort, even physical strength and prowess. Whatever the specific matter might be, "the soul is not satisfied." The appetite is not satisfied. And the root problem is one that resides within our own human nature.

As fallen human beings, one of the great curses inflicted by God upon mankind through Adam was inclination to addiction. A sinful inclination. And in some form or another, we all have it. An insatiable appetite. The deep rooted sense that happiness and contentment would be yours if you just had a little bit more. So the native flaw in fallen man is, ? A. The universal struggle of insatiable desire. That's why it is impossible to enjoy the riches and pleasures of this world, because for all the work you might accomplish, for everything that you do to meet your own legitimate needs, your fallen, sinful heart wants more. You work to feed your mouth, verse 7, but your heart cries out for more.

This is nothing new for Ecclesiastes.

Ecc. 5:10 "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity."

The Scripture presents to us an alternative. Instead of covetousness, contentment.

1 Tim. 6:6 "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

That exhortation emphasizes the reality that this struggle is common to Christians, too. It is not that God takes away all the foolish desires of your heart when you become a Christian. It is not that all the struggles and vanity of life disappear into perfect and complete happiness. Rather, as those redeemed by the blood of Christ continue to live as Christians, there is now a war that rages within us. The native flaw of discontentment is not easily put to death. The struggle against the vanity of seeking to be satisfied by the riches of this world is not a battle easily won. And so Solomon makes mention of God's people in verse 8, with reference to,

B. The common struggle of believers. v.8

The wise man, contrasted to the fool, is an understandable reference to the people of God. In Solomon's day, that meant the nation of Israel. The wise would simply refer to the covenant people of God gathered together in the nation of Israel. And the fool? The fool is the one who does not know God, who says in his heart, "There is no God."

Same idea with the "poor man," one of the faithful sufferers within the nation of Israel. He is one, verse 8, "Who knows how to walk before the living." Indeed, the only people who really knew how to live where those to whom God had revealed his word, his laws and his statutes. The Israelites. The walked before the world as a testimony of God's goodness and wisdom. "The poor man" refers to God's people.

This same idea is found in, Deut. 4:5 "Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. 6 "Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

So the covenant people of God know the truth, then as now! We know what God has said, and by the grace of his power at work within our hearts, we come to understand and believe it. So it is we read,

Heb. 13:5 "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

We know the truth of, Ps. 37:16 "A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked."

But even still, it is our struggle, too. That is why the Bible includes this exhortation so often, this call to contentment. We need to hear it!

We know that the Bible "is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." So here is the rebuke. Here is the correction, the instruction. We all need it. Here is the training and instruction in righteousness by which you will be thoroughly equipped for every good work. It is the lesson of contentment.

C. The need for godly wisdom. That wisdom is expressed in, v.9

"The wandering of desire". Literally, the wandering of the soul. The straying about of desires. Always wanting more. Wanting something else, something different. Something new and improved. Searching for happiness. Better to be content with what you have, what you see, that what your wandering desires long for.

Let me make a very valuable and helpful point here, one to which I am indebted to my commentary by H.C. Leupold, who writes, "The wandering is the lustful straying about from one thing to another in quest of true satisfaction. This is possible to the children of Israel only when they fail to regard what they have. That is here designated as 'the sight of the eyes'...That which their eyes see is the good that God has given them as a nation. This they should have regarded rather than to let their eyes rove about, as they were now doing, in quest of something that is satisfactory."

That is a really important point, because all too often we don't think of discontentment as serious enough of a problem. But discontentment comes only in the neglect or failure to see the good that God has given you. Looking for something else, the wandering of desire, is, therefore, a rejection of the good that God has already given you. Thus, the wandering desires of discontentment is a rejection of God!

So think about it. And search and examine your own heart. Identity those areas of discontent and dissatisfaction in your life, those areas of seeking something else instead of focusing upon the blessings and goodness of God in what you have.

This is a huge matter, because we live in an age and in a culture in which the spirit of discontentment abounds. We even give it labels to justify it, sometimes the label ambition, especially with the young. We have removed addiction from any sense of moral responsibility or accountability, and transferred it entirely to the realm of disease, as if this wandering desire is nothing different than a cancerous growth in your body. Later in life, we label the discontentment a mid-life crisis, and with that label, excuse it. We think that new means improved, and new and improved is always better. We are trained to think that bigger is better, that more is superior, and that nicer is preferable. We are bombarded with messages that tempt us to think that if we just had a nicer car, or nicer clothes, or more money, all would be well. And beloved, that simply is not true!

Luke 12:15 "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

Indeed, covetousness is actually identified as idolatry. And so Paul writes,

Col. 3:1 "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming."

Discontentment is idolatry! Seeking more than you have while missing the reality of the goodness of what God has given you is idolatry. And Jesus, as always, has the perfect word of wisdom,

Mat. 6:31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

So beware this native flaw within your own soul, and by God's grace, do all you can do to cut it out and put its desires to death. Do whatever you can do to never feed those desire, to never indulge them, for with such discontentment, you will never be satisfied with the portion of this world's riches which God gives to you.

Solomon goes on to emphasize and define,

II. AN INESCAPABLE DILEMMA. Essentially, he now points how why it is useless for a man to strive for riches. It is vanity, a grasping for the wind. Again, the focus of today, "Why?" Why is it such a vain undertaking? And the first answer to that question is as simple as it is humbling, because you cannot contend against God.

A. No humble earthling can strive against God. Because God is God. He is the creator of heaven and earth. And no matter who you are, no matter how important you might be among men, you are but a creature. A creature of dust, an earthling. And you are no match for God. v.10

That's what discontentment really is all about, fighting with God! Contending with God. "That is not only futile, it is the sin of 'revolt.'" (Leupold)

So this is what we must remember about God,

Is. 45:9 "Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or shall your handiwork say, 'He has no hands'? 10 Woe to him who says to his father, 'What are you begetting?' Or to the woman, 'What have you brought forth?'" 11 Thus says the LORD, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me. 12 I have made the earth, And created man on it. I--My hands--stretched out the heavens, And all their host I have commanded."

Oh, how we need a big view of God. In this age of discontent, we don't need more things. We don't need more money. We don't need more counseling or more medication. We need to know a bigger God, one bigger than is common in the perception of so many people.

The answer to discontentment and dissatisfaction is the awareness of a God revealed with these words,

Is. 46:5 "To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal And compare Me, that we should be alike? 6 They lavish gold out of the bag, And weigh silver on the scales; They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship. 7 They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it And set it in its place, and it stands; From its place it shall not move. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer Nor save him out of his trouble. 8 "Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure."

Beloved, you cannot strive against a God such as that.

Secondly, it is useless for a man to strive for riches because, actually, there is no profit in it.

B. There is no profit in the accumulation of things. That's the vanity of the whole thing, the system of increasing consumption that has overtaken our country in the past half century. v.11

Or, perhaps a clearer translation, "If things are increased, vanity is increased by them." What advantage does that have for a man? That's the question. The more that you have of this world riches, the more troubles that you have. The more burdens and concerns that you have. What's the profit in that? Under those circumstances, "How is man the better?"

It is impossible to gain satisfaction from worldly riches because they have no inherent value in the first place! Just silver and gold, all of which perishes. The more that you have, the more you have to lose. The more you possess, the more you have to protect. The more you have, the more to manage.

The more you have of this world's goods, the more opportunity you have to experience the vanity of riches. They have no value.

And so Andrew Lahde dropped out. He quit. He walked away from the accumulation of financial riches. "Some people...might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives [stink]...What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway." He finally learned wisdom!

And one final answer to that question of why the pursuit of riches is such a useless vanity. Simply put,

C. Our future is entirely unknown to us. In other words, you can't prepare for something that is unknown. You may die tomorrow. So much for your retirement annuity. You may be blessed by God in ways absolutely unimaginable. You may face struggles that you could not possibly prepare for ahead of time. You simply don't know. So stop living as if you did know! Stop living as if you had all the answers and had all the preparations firmly in place for anything that might happen. You simply do not know. Only God knows. v.12

In the overall perspective of this age, your life is but a shadow, a small light passing over a stage. Accumulating vast stores of riches won't change that nor give you any more significance. And since the Lord alone knows what lies in store for you, your own preparations are ultimately of no significance at all.

Now, let me say one thing to balance all of this. I am not intending to imply that you ought not to make any plans or preparations for the future. But what I am saying is that your preparations, in themselves, are a vain hope for security and happiness.

So it is that James puts it this way,

James 4:13 "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil."

"If the Lord wills..." That's the context for all your plans. "If the Lord wills..." For, "Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?"

So what about you? What about the struggles of your life with regard to discontentment, wandering desires? Life under the sun has no solution to that dilemma. And life without Jesus Christ has no hope of solving it. And until your heart finds its rest and its happiness in the one true and living God, it will find no rest.

The answer to that dilemma is, at that point, to believe in Jesus Christ, to rest upon him alone for salvation. To believe in him and to call upon his name, he who alone can satisfy your soul with good things.

And to you who believe, to you who belong to Christ as children of God, look upon all the good that God has given you, not only good here and now but the good inheritance laid up for you in heaven. Consider all the evidences of the goodness of God, and delight yourself in him as you worship him. Sing with a contended delight,

Ps. 103:1 "Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's...14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more. 17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, 18 To such as keep His covenant, And to those who remember His commandments to do them. 19 The LORD has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the voice of His word. 21 Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You ministers of His, who do His pleasure. 22 Bless the LORD, all His works, In all places of His dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!"

That's the solution to the dilemma of dissatisfaction. Sing your praise to the God has been so good to you. You cannot be discontent as you are consumed with the glory and praise of the one"who satisfies your mouth with good things." "Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits."

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