Ecclesiastes 4:4-6

Please ask these chapter 4 verses 4 to 6 for our text and study this evening. Again, I considered all travail in every right work that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. The full foldeth his hand, together and eateth his own flesh. Better is a handful with quietness than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this evening. I read a story about a primitive tribe many years ago who obsesied. a custom of electing a new king every seven years. And during his reign, he was given complete authority to do whatever he wanted to do. Wine, women, song, it didn’t matter, indulge in any pleasure he desired. There were no restrictions. However, there was only just one hitch. At the end of his brief reign, he would be put to death, and another king would be elected to take his place. So your life terminated when you were done with your seven-year reign as king. Now, believe it or not, there was always a man who was willing to be king under these conditions, even though they would end up exchanging their lives for just seven years of power and indulgence. It seems strong. to us that would be the case you know one of the most interesting studies you can undertake is man’s behavior why man does what he does it’s it’s something more bizarre at times and as you consider the individual you have to wonder what makes this person tick why do they act the way they do what philosophy of life are they living on them Solomon here takes an inventory of all the types of people who live in the world. And what is amazing is that his evaluations are still valid today. Whatever philosophies that he encountered and he reiterates here in our text are the very same things you find today. No new thing under the sun. People are driven just as they were. In Solomon’s day, human nature remains the same, even though times change. So let us consider four basic philosophies of life from this text of scripture tonight. And the first is this, you are motivated by envy of your neighbor. Verse four. Again, I considered all travail. in every right work that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation spirit. Solomon here exposes the hollowness of the of the motivation that some people have with regard to work. And he says they’re actually driven by envy. Indeed, there is a man that may work 12, hours a day to build his business and make a good income, but his less ambitious neighbor who doesn’t have such a work ethic envies the fact that his neighbor makes more money than he does. Now think about this a minute. If you as a Christian have what we call the Puritan work ethic, that you really apply yourself because you’re doing it as under the Lord, whatever your hands undertake to do in this life. It becomes a source of evil for a worldly neighbor because God may prosper you in that and he doesn’t like it. When you look at all the Black Lives Matter situations, Antifa, what is it all about? It’s not fair that these people who have businesses have more than we do, we’re going to burn them, burn them down. Isn’t that what we’re talking about here? See, nothing new is on. the song. So you watch your neighbor, let’s say he engages in honest work and he gains possessions, but there’s envy that motivates you to have what he has what he has, to keep up with the judges. A sense of rivalry that begins between you and your neighbor. And you end up continually trying to outdo your neighbor. his earthly achievements produce animosity rather loving your neighbor for being a good and productive person who engages in every right work you envy him and this is the problem that we have that’s the driving force behind you so if he manages to make if you manage to make a hundred thousand dollars a year you can’t be happy with that because your neighbor may make 200,000 dollars a year And so that becomes a source of problem. Your neighbor gets a new car and you look at yours and say well mine’s two or three years old I need to get a new car. He gets a Mercedes, I gotta get a Cadillac. I gotta get some a little bit better. If he puts in a pool, you have to put in a bigger pool with a big large sundeck all around it. If he gets a you know new self-fell, you know, phone, why you gotta get a new Apple phone with all the latest gadgets and gizmos to it. You gotta have the best. If she gets a new dress, wow, you gotta have a designer’s dress. One that’s prettier, one that’s fancier than hers. If she gets her her house painted inside, you decide you need all new rugs for your house. If she gets a gold ring, you gotta have a sparkling diamond. And on and on, it goes. Envy becomes the motivation for all your labor under the sun. I gotta work harder because I gotta beat him out. I gotta get something better than he has. You can’t let that person get ahead of you. You resent your neighbor’s success. And then the fabric of the community gets torn apart because everybody’s envying one another. You’re not loving your neighbor. now if you’re continually trying to outdo your neighbor you can’t be truly happy there’s no end in sight each of you keeps trying to do outdo the other one there’s no end of that it’s a never-ending battle I’m reminded of Leah and Rachel you remember the competition they had Jacob ends up marrying these two sisters and they’re trying to outdo one another by having more kids maybe more children so if Leah has five well Rachel will got to have more and when she can’t have any well here take my midwife or take one of my maids as a midwife you can have children by her and I can have more children and Leah says well I can’t let her out do me so he gives Jacob she gives Jacob a midwife too. He’s said you can have more children. Poor Jacob, he comes home, he doesn’t know who’s going to he’s going to sleep with that night. You know, they’re well I bought you with my mandrakes for Rachel tonight. You got to sleep with me, Leah says. I mean, can you imagine this going on? What hostility’s going on inside the family because of the envy? One of another. Early on in the history of Israel, you remember they were ruled by judges who governed them, Gideon and Samson and Samuel and so forth. However, the Israelites were not content with this kind of government. They looked around them and they said, hey, all our neighbors have kings. They looked at the Philistines, they looked at the Syrians, they looked at the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Edomites, the Edomites, the Edomites, They all have kings. We’ve got to have a king. And so they tell Samuel this, when he talks to the Lord, he says, well, you’ll have to give him a king. That’s what they want. Give them one. But tell them what he’s going to do. Well, he’s going to take your sons for the military. He’s going to take your daughters to be cooks and bakers. He’s going to take your best fields. He’s going to tax you more than you think you’re going to get taxed. And it’s not going to be pleasant for you. It’s going to be difficult. And what did they say? Nevertheless, the people refuse to obey the voice of Samuel, and they say, nay, but we will have a king over us that we may be like all the nations. Envy! And where does that lead them? Not down a good path, as we find out. You see what kind of King Saul was to them. So you’re motivated by envy of your neighbor. That’s what happens. That’s one of the philosophy. The second philosophy here is you’re motivated by what I’ll call escapism in verse 5. The full foldeth his hands together and eateth his own flesh. The hands folded here mean that it’s in a position where the person’s not working. Sort of drops out of society. A lot of young people who live in the basement and mom and dad and live off mom and mom. dad and spend all their time trolling on the internet all day long. They don’t do anything productive for society whatsoever. It speaks of idleness, not working, not contributing to society in any fashion. The Bible says this type of person is a fool. This is ungodly behavior. This is slothful, lazy behavior. He ruins himself. He needs his own flesh, we’re told here. Which is what you do if you don’t eat, you become self-destructive. Well, he’s saying here, because you’re not working, you’re not really doing anything productive, you become, it’s self-destructive to you. Look at Proverbs, if you would, Chapter 6, where Solomon, that touches on this same thing here. Solomon 6, beginning with verse 6, Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise, which hath no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gather her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yea, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall poverty come as one. that travaileth in thy want as an armed person. You know, there are many people that live off a welfare all their life depend upon the government. Now, the problem with this is it’s actually harmful to them to be in this situation. I mean, at best, if you’re going to have any type of welfare, it ought to be a temporary thing. Maybe it helps somebody is displaced or something. But it’s a non-biblical system. God’s word is clear if a man will not work, neither should he eat. If he has the ability to work, I’m not saying if he’s handicapped or he has health issues, he can’t maybe work. But if he can work, if he’s an able-bodied person and he doesn’t work, he shouldn’t eat. Some of you are aware of John Smith, who was the Englishman in 1607, who founded Johnstown, Virginia. the colony there, it was the first permanent, I believe, English settlement in America. He organized trade with the Indians, led expeditions to explore the land, roundabout, Johnstown, and so forth. The only problem was that the Johnstown settlement reached a crisis because they had a socialistic society. They gathered all the crops, whatever you grew. would be all like thrown into one pile, so to speak, and everybody would draw from that pile. Well, there were some people decided, well, I don’t need to work. I’ll just eat what everybody else makes. And so they merely wanted to be provided for by others. And it got so bad they almost starved to death one winter. So John Smith posted a large sign, which became public, policy for Johnstown. No work, no eat. That was the deal. Needless to say, soon, everybody was being productive in Johnstown survived as a colony here in the United States. European cuckoo bird is a freeloader. When spring comes, he doesn’t build a nest, or he doesn’t build a nest. Instead, the female invades. Instead, the female invades, the nest of some other bird and lays her eggs in that bird’s nest. And the cuckoo offspring are left to be hatched and taken care of by the unsuspecting bird, and the foster parent, so to speak. And the cuckoo bird, being a little bit bigger than other birds, would push the other birds out of the nest to their death. so that he would be the only one left. Were they, the few that were born, were the only one left, and they would take all the mother’s attention for themselves. This is the selfish habit of the cuckoo bird. It’s a lot like the irresponsibility that we find today. Will people sponge off others, live totally undisciplined lives, and refuse to earn their keep, it’s cuckoo behavior. Now for the professing, Christian, we have this scripture reference in 1 Timothy 5.8. If any, provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, yet denied the faith as worse than infidel. These are strong words, but they’re necessary words. The consequences of laziness in the lives of dropouts is a serious matter. Escapeism may appear to be good for a period of time. You avoid life’s pressures, but suppose everybody took that course of action. The Bible’s approach, interestingly enough, is let that person go hungry. If you won’t work, let him go hungry. That’s a biblical premise. Now, here I have a problem with a lot of churches who engage in soup kitchens and things of this nature. feed the homeless and the hobos and the people that won’t work. They, you know, they just feed them. Actually, you’re not doing them any good. And you’re violating the biblical principle. You’re just allowing them to get away with their poor behavior. It’s unbiblical to do that. I don’t mind there are those who will feed you, but then you’ve got to work. They’ll put you to work. and they have some kind of deal where they work program associated with it, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But the problem is, if we just feed to people without any responsibility in their part, can we run into this living off of the church’s finances? You know, everybody, you know, is around there, you say, well, I can just go to the soup kitchen down, I’ll get a free meal, I’ll get a hot meal, or I’ll get a bed or something of that nature. When I was growing up on the Light of Life Mission here in Pittsburgh, they would give you a place to stay for the night, and they would feed you at dinner. But you had to stay for the preaching. They had preaching services every night at the mission. You had to stay for the preaching services. So, you had to stay for the preaching services. So, you all of the preaching services. these drunks would be in there listening to the, I don’t know who was preaching. I guess, I don’t know how many different churches they had in there, but we’d go down once a month as our church did. So they would be, you know, they would listen, but all they wanted was the bed and the meal. And they cut that out now. You don’t have to listen to any preaching anymore. But you’re motivated by escapism. The third thing here is you’re motivated. by obsessive pursuit of success. Now, in verse 6, I want to flip over to the second part of the verse, he says here, better is a handful with quietness, then both hands full with travail and vexational spirit. Let’s look at that both hands full aspect. Both hands full with travail symbolizes the grasping obsession, obsession of people who are possessed to get ahead in life. And so they kill themselves, so to speak, using every ounce of energy they have to get ahead in life. And so the workaholic slaves compulsively for his first million and then the second and then his third, and he’s never satisfied. The ambitious maneuver themselves with calculated deafness to move up. to move up in a company to get a better job all the time and jump from this company to that company it doesn’t matter all that that that’s their whole focus in life it doesn’t matter what happens to their family doesn’t matter what happens to their marriage the most important thing to them is i gotta get ahead and this common factor of unchanging preoccupation with personal achievement money and power possession become your goals it becomes your religion it becomes your religion you can’t serve God and manman. But some still serve mann in this life, as Jesus indicates to us. You become totally committed to the world standard for success. Ethics are not considered as long as you get ahead. Whatever it takes to get ahead, that’s what you do. Solomon considers this philosophy of life, toil and vexation of spirit. Ben Franklin said this. money can never make a man happy never made a man happy yet nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles or triples that want another way. That was a true proverb. of the wise man rely upon it. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure in trouble therewith. As Jesus told us, a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses. So you obsessively pursue advancement and success. Now the fourth philosophy of life is found here in the first part of verse six. You pursue a balanced and contented life. Better is a handful with quietness than both hands full with travail. This beautiful expression is sort of a halfway place between both hands being involved and your hands being folded and you’re not doing anything. Isn’t it a balance between these two extremes? The idea is of a modest and contented life where only one hand becomes put forth to effectively and successfully work to gain what is necessary in life. Not both hands. One hand. It’s possible to have genuine peace and prosperity. And God still bless you with one hand involved. What is the other hand doing? Well, the Bible says the basic fact of life of the disciples of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is that they are always with their Lord. I like what Psalm 73, 23 says, Nevertheless, I am continually with thee. thou holdest me by my right hand. So where is the right hand? It’s locked into fellowship with the Lord. The left hand is involved in providing for the family and taking care of needs, but the right hand is still connected with the Lord and in fellowship with him. Now this provides the balanced and happy life that we need to have in this world. Your left hand can be used to fruitfully and beneficially labor and commitment to providing for yourself and your family. That’s great. That’s good. But let us not chase after the wind by using both hands. Look at Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 16, if you would. Solomon expansion. on his thinking here. Roberts chapter 15 in verse 16. He says this, better as little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure in trouble therewith. It’s better to have less as long as we have the fear of the Lord. And then look across the page on chapter 16, if you would. And verse 8. Better is a little bit of the little. with righteousness than great revenues without light. With walking in the Lord, being a man who has been justified in God’s sight, living rightly, following the narrow path. It’s better to have little in that and still be pursuing that than to have great quantities and having all kinds of problems. associated with it. Many people are confused about what is of really great value in this life. They think they’ll be happy if they’re rich. If they could just buy whatever my heart desires, that’s what’s going to make me happy. No, it won’t. We’ve talked about this repeatedly. You know what will make you happy? Laying up your treasure in heaven. When Jeremy Taylor, the old Puritan, had his house burglarized. all his choice possessions were taken. And his house was such a wreck that he actually had no place to live afterwards. He knelt down, and he thanked God that his enemies had left him the sun and the moon, a loving wife, many friends to pity and help him. And he thanked God for his providence, for his promises of the gospel, for his faith, for his hope of heaven, for his charity toward his enemies, and he learned the truth of our text. You can lose all that your left hand can gather for you, as long as your right hand is still locked in God’s head. It’s what, it’s in your right hand accounts, ultimately, and that’s God’s fellowship. So material things don’t make you wealthy or content, but spiritual treasure makes you rich in the faith, something that is cannot be stolen, can’t be lost, and can never be destroyed. I closed this morning or this evening by saying this. Isn’t it interesting that that tribe that elected a new king every seven years and put to death the old one, still had people that were willing to do it. It makes you wonder what makes a person tick, what kind of philosophies of life that they have. Solomon here evaluates this for. He gives us an opportunity to ponder this ourselves. Have you considered the greatest need that you have in life? What motivates you? Envy of your neighbor? Escaping? Are you a workaholic? What is your motivation? Well, I trust that our true motivation would be to honor the Lord and serve him in this life. Yes, will we work and we’ll do our work as under the Lord. Our left hand will be busy, but our right hand will never let go of the Lord because we know, how important it is to know the Lord. My friends, we should realize it is the gospel of Christ alone that gives you the right philosophy of life. There’s no other right philosophy. Man-made philosophies aren’t going to cut it. The right philosophy comes with the gospel. We put first God and His kingdom, all the necessary things of life will be put provided for us. And we don’t have to use both hands to do that. Let’s close with a little.