“Scarcity
Under the Sun”
Part 1:
Oppression and Envy
A
Sermon on Ecclesiastes 4:1-6
November
10, 2002
by Rev. Stephen C.
Magee
TEXT:
Ecclesiastes 4:1-12: Scarcity Under the Sun
Part 1 -
Oppression and Envy - (4:1-6)
Part 2 - Singleness - (4:6-12)
OPPRESSION
1 Then I returned and considered
all the oppression that is done
under the sun:
And look! The tears of the
oppressed,
But they have no comforter --
On the side of their oppressors
there is power,
But they have no comforter.
2 Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead,
More than the living who are
still alive.
3 Yet, better than both is he who
has never existed,
Who has not seen the evil work
that is done under the sun.
ENVY 4 Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work
a man is envied by his neighbor.
This
also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
LAZINESS
5 The fool folds his hands
And consumes his
own flesh.
ON THE OTHER HAND...
6 Better a handful with
quietness
Than both hands full, together
with toil and grasping for the wind.
SINGLENESS
7 Then I returned, and I saw
vanity under the sun:
8 There is one alone, without
companion:
He has neither son nor brother.
Yet there is no end to all his
labors,
Nor is his eye satisfied with
riches.
But he never asks,
"For whom do I toil and
deprive myself of good?"
This also is vanity and a grave
misfortune.
9 Two are better than one,
Because they
have a good reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, one will
lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when
he falls,
For he has no
one to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie down together,
they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered
by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not
quickly broken.
Introduction: Scarcity and Abundance
This morning we begin the central
cycle in this book, and we are headed to the center of the center, which is an
amazing passage about the work of God.
As we head toward the center we will begin by taking two weeks to look
at scarcity in human work. When we come
to the end of this cycle we will have two messages on the problems that people
have who have plenty from human work.
For today and for next week we see
the challenge of scarcity in life.
Scarcity is the first thing that anyone is supposed to learn about when
they take a course in Economics. If we
could all have everything that we want in the world, then there would be no
scarcity, and there would be no reason to study Economics.
But there is scarcity build into the
world after the fall, and the passages that we just read tell us about some of
the dangers faced by people that know they have less of something than they
seem to need. I want to explore three
specific problems of scarcity that the passage addresses and then look at the
solution which Solomon points to in verse six.
The First Problem of Scarcity:
Oppression of the Weak by the Powerful
The first problem to consider is
oppression. When you have too little in
this world, you can easily be oppressed by those who have more power than you
do. The weak are in danger every day. Children can be oppressed by adults who are
more powerful than them. People without
parents or without husbands or those who are strangers can be oppressed by
those who would do them harm. Workers can be oppressed by powerful managers and
owners. Citizens can be oppressed by
governments that have the power to tax and to take away freedom and even
life. Stronger governments can oppress
weaker governments, and force them to do what they want them to do.
I want to look at one example from
the Bible of oppression so that we can agree with Solomon that it is a bad
thing. The example I am going to use comes from one of the laws in Leviticus.
Leviticus 19:13
13 You
shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall
not remain with you all night until morning.
Some poor guy does not have anything
at all at home for food. He has a family
to feed, and he relies on the wages of the day to be able to get just enough to
bring food home to his family so that everyone can eat. But he goes to work for a man one day who
suggests that he is going to pay him that day, as is the custom, and the
necessity, as well as the commandment of God.
The man he works for has more power.
He has more money. He also has
things that he would like to do with his resources. He has learned that he can get the best
returns by making people wait some to get their wages. So at the end of the day, he tells the worker
that he can collect his wages in the morning or in a few days.
So the poor man goes home with
nothing. His wife meets him at the
door. A few hungry faces scamper around
their mother's dress. Papa is home. And he was able to find some work today. But Mama sees her husband's face. She loves and respects him, but she fights
back her anger and resentment, and she knows that before the night is over she
will be angry at him, and he will be angry at her, and the children will hear
it. He is a hard worker. He loves her and their children. She knows the look that he brings home
tonight. He is embarrassed by his
powerlessness. The big man that he
worked for today has withheld his wages.
There will be nothing on the table tonight. The family will gather together and cry out
to God for help. But there will be
hunger and anger in the home. "He
said he will be able to pay me my wages tomorrow." But they both know that the full amount may
never be paid. She cannot help it. She is fighting back the tears, but she
starts to cry. "Look! The tears of the oppressed."
The boss has the power. The poor have no one to look out for them
among their people. This is part of the
scarcity that these verses speak of. I t
is not merely that this family does not have enough food. The text says twice, "they
have no comforter." Boaz was a
comforter to Ruth in her distress as a widow and a foreigner. But the ones that Solomon looks at have no
one to mourn alongside of them and to strengthen them and aid them. They are poor and they are alone.
Now before I go on in this passage I
want to urge you that if you are oppressing the weak in some way than you must
stop doing it. God says in Psalm 72:4
that he "will break in pieces the oppressor." He says in Proverbs 14:31 that the one who
oppresses the poor is personally insulting God, who is the Maker of the
poor. The poor, the orphan, the widow,
the stranger, the weak were all created in the image of God. When you see the weak, look carefully behind
them and you will see God waiting in the wings.
God has a way of working these things out. Proverbs 22:16 says that the one who
oppresses the poor in order to grow in riches, will himself come to
poverty. Repent on this matter, like Zacchaeus did as recorder in Luke's gospel:
Luke 19:8-9 8 Then Zacchaeus
stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the
poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore
fourfold." 9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this
house,..."
Furthermore, be a comforter to those
who are in distress, and you will be doing what God
does. Within the church there must
always be comforters. We mourn with
those who mourn. We lift up the weak. We feed the hungry. We clothe the naked.
Without a comforter, the misery of
the oppressed is very miserable. So desperate
is their condition, that Solomon wonders if they would
be better off dead, or if they had never been born.
The Second Problem of Scarcity: Envy of
the Powerful by the Weak
The abuse of the poor by the
powerful is a serious problem. The weak
man has another problem, however. That
problem is his own sinful heart. Our worker can easily begin to have a sinful
reaction to his oppressor, and to all who are like him in their fortune. He can begin to envy them. Verse 4 tells us this story.
To envy is to feel displeasure or
ill-will at the superiority of another person.
Envy is a dangerous hobby. It
leads to the destruction of the one who indulges in it. Proverbs 14:30 says that envy is rottenness
to the bones. If our poor worker that we
discussed before gives himself over to envy, he may spend his nights without
the sweet gift of sleep, contemplating the way he would treat the rich man if
their lives were reversed. He is now not
only hungry, troubled, and angry. He is
also plagued by his own envy.
This too is a problem that is
associated with a world of scarcity. For
what sense would envy make if everyone had everything that wanted? In the case of oppression the powerful man
may abuse the poor, but with envy the poor man abuses himself.
What about you?
Before we can continue, you need to
consider whether any of this applies to you.
Do you oppress the weak? This can
show up in unexpected ways. You wait for
that situation when someone is under your power, and is subject to you. There is nothing they can do now. You are the winner, and they must follow your
rules. True biblical leadership would
love the weak and rule in such a way that their own good would be your
desire. Or is your passion to show that
you are in charge, and that they must comply?
On the other hand, do you feel
yourself to be oppressed by those who have some power? Do you envy those who have something you do
not have? Do you look for an occasion to
prove them wrong, or to boast in your own accomplishments. Is your heart set on being helpful and
humble, or on being right in your own eyes and in the eyes of others.
These issues of oppression and envy
are not matters that just touch a few of us.
They are part of our sinful and depraved response to our condition of
feeling that we only have a little - that we are poor in some way.
Perhaps the young people among us
are able to admit these behaviors more readily than the adults. How do you treat your younger siblings or
acquaintances? Do you oppress them? Do you rule over them for your own good
whenever you have the chance? How do you
think about your older siblings, or those that are better than you in
something? Do you envy them, or do you
thank God for the good gifts that He has seen fit to give to them. These are serious matters. Envy destroys the one who practices it. And oppression of the weak is a personal
attack against God, the Maker of the weak.
Adults, if our young people can see
that they do these things, are we able to own up to the fact that we have not
grown out of such childish behavior entirely.
We are adults but we still oppress the weak and envy the
successful. What are we to do?
The Third Problem of Scarcity: A Sinful
Reaction - Laziness and Detachment Not the Answer
When you see the companion problems
of oppression and envy rightly, you may wonder if there is some way of just
checking out of this world of perverse human interaction. If we cannot seem to entirely escape from oppression
and envy, perhaps we can simply tip over the monopoly game, and quietly live
the rest of our lives in a corner. This
solution is ruled out in verse 5. You
are to be engaged in this world, despite the cursed condition of this earth and
the problem of your own sin.
You can not simply fold your hands
and expect to live a wise life. You will
only consume your own flesh, and God has a purpose for you here under the sun,
which is more than filling your time with mindless pursuits. There are many ways to check out. We busy, busy people are experts at mindless
pursuits. God has not put us on this
earth for mindless pursuits. If you are
a follower of Christ, surely you know that you are not to fold your hands and wait
for the day of your death. You are to
pour out your life in humble acts of service, mission, and discipleship. This is what we are about. We are those who delight ourselves in giving
away our lives for others out of reverence for Christ. Have you checked out? Check back in.
What is the Answer? The Contentment of a Godly Quietness
The answer for you is not in
laziness or in frenetic activity - trying to fill your own hands through a life
of toil that is just a grasping after the wind, The answer comes in enjoying the
handful that God has given you with a quietness of heart. This is none other than the same
"godliness with contentment" that Paul recommends to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:6, where he calls it "great gain."
What Is Godliness with Contentment?
1 Timothy 6:6-10 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.
Godliness is a life built on God and His Word, rather than on the
things that we can most certainly not carry out of this world. To have quietness of heart in such a life can
only come from the belief that God has made promises to us through Jesus Christ
that shall not fail. Jesus Christ must
be at the very center of a life of godliness with contentment.
You have been an oppressor of the
weak. Jesus loved the weak, and died for
you in your weakness. You have envied
those who are rich in the things that perish.
Jesus never envied the powerful, and those with earthly storehouses that
were full. He had eyes of wisdom that
saw through the mirage of temporary gain, and gazed surely upon heavenly gold. You need a Comforter. He was the Comforter from God in His earthly
ministry, and promised that He would send another Comforter, the Holy Spirit,
who would be the most precious gift we could gain.
How to Live With a Little
Christ has done all this for
us. This is why Paul tells us that
Christ is the secret to living life well if you feel that you have just a
little. Here is the secret: "I can
do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). You are nobody's poor cousin. You are a child of God. If you have Christ you may be empty in the
eyes of the world, but you are full, because you have Christ in you, the hope
of glory. You are rich in the things
that last. You have no business envying
anyone, and no need to oppress anyone.
Be a comforter to the oppressed because of the comfort with which you
have been comforted, and live a life of godliness with contentment through the
Lord Jesus Christ, which is great, great gain.