“Money: A Means, Not A Master”
Passage: Ecclesiastes 5:10-20
Pastor Nate Walther
September 21, 2025
Which financial gurus do you trust? Maybe you have a particular financial podcast or personal financial guy you always listen to. Perhaps it’s someone like Dave Ramsey – He’s a popular one, and he has some good things to say. Myself, I thank God for my dad – who learned these lessons from his dad, a banker – so also, he taught me life lessons about saving money, living within my means, and giving richly with my offerings and trusting that God will provide.
Today God gives us an even better financial guru to listen to: King Solomon. I say that because Solomon spoke from experience; he was the wealthiest man of his times! But even more importantly, Solomon spoke from God; he wrote the words of our sermon text under inspiration of the Holy Spirit! And today he (God!) shows us that we should think of MONEY AS A MEANS, NOT AS A MASTER.
As we go back to what we heard earlier in our first reading in Ecclesiastes, Solomon clears up a misconception we can easily get as Christians. Namely, is money a bad thing? Solomon’s answer definitively is, “no!” While Solomon speaks poorly about money at the beginning of our sermon text, he speaks highly of it by the end… which goes to show, money is neither good nor bad in itself; rather, it’s a question of how we look at it. And verse 19 hints at how we can properly look at money: “Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.” Just like Jesus warned in our Gospel reading today, money is not to be our master… God is! As Solomon says here, God is the one who “gives wealth and possessions” in the first place.
That builds on a second important point. We need it to be this way because money is a really poor master. Solomon explains that for us too. Verse 15 gives us the most significant proof “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. Finally, what good is a master who leaves you with nothing in the end? Spiritually speaking, then, money does nothing for us… And Physically speaking, it’s not much different! Verses 10 & 11, “Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income… As goods increase, so do those who consume them.” That’s true! With more money comes more stress, it doesn’t just fix everything! Or, how about verses 13 & 14, which talks about how “wealth (can be) hoarded… (then) lost.” It’s not just when we die that we lose money, there are many ways we can lose it here as well! Likewise, verses 16 & 17, “what do they gain, since they toil for the wind? All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.” Money can truly affect your ability to enjoy life, such as when you’re up late slaving for it instead of letting it serve you. Then it’s no longer a means to enjoy God’s other blessings, like Solomon describes in verse 18 & following…
As Christians we don’t need statistics to prove what the Bible says… but those exist too. They once did a study of which social class was happiest, and do you know what they found? If you run a chart with one axis being how happy people are, and the other axis being how much money people make, what does the graph look like? You might think that the more money you make the happier you will be, and that’s true!… to an extent. However, they found that once you make enough money to get by comfortably – i.e. you’re not worried about where your next meal is coming from or how you’ll pay your bills; and you have a little money saved up and you’re sort of in that middle class region – after that it’s all downhill. Of course, that’s speaking generally. There are exceptions to these statistics, and maybe you are an exception to this. But there’s a lot of truth in this also! As they say, “Mo money, mo problems.” No, I’m not talking about the rappers who popularized that phrase in the 90s. Rather, as we just heard in our sermon text, 3,000 years ago Solomon knew this was true by virtue of his experiences – God knew it was true too by his omniscience.
Money is not the answer our world thinks it is. I imagine we’d all agree with that sentiment. But would the amount we spend on vacations, or restaurants, or clothes tell a different story? Or what about the story our offerings would tell, or lack thereof? As Solomon talked about in our sermon text, do concerns about money rob you of sleep, and prevent you from enjoying the blessings God has given to you? Or, as Paul said in our epistle reading, are we truly content with what we have, or do we feel like we need more – only then can I gave more in offerings, only then can I stop worrying, only then can I serve the Lord! Finally, as Jesus himself said in today’s Gospel, do we primarily see money as something to use to gain friends for eternity, or do we primarily see it as something to waste on the breath of this life?
Too often – far too often! – money has instead become our master. In our affluent society – in some way or another! – Satan has ensnared every one of us with this. Yet again, God’s law reveals our sin. And it will only purchase for us the wind, as Solomon vividly pictured it in Ecclesiastes: an emptiness & nothingness. In fact, when Solomon talks about this as “meaningless” (a phrase he famously repeats throughout the book), literally translated that means, “vapor.” It’s like the breath of your mouth that you see on a cold Wisconsin morning, which disappears in an instant and never comes back. So also, that’s what our sin leaves us with.
There’s a better way. A way to sleep well at night without any worry. A way to enjoy labor & work, and to find some satisfaction & meaning in it; at least, more than you ever thought you could in a fallen world. A way to “eat, drink, and be merry,” but not because – as it’s been said before in our world – “tomorrow we die!”; rather, it’s because we no longer fear death and being left with nothing… that way is found by having the Lord God of the Bible as our master. And I know you know that. But let God speak that truth to your soul this morning. Whether it’s through money or not, God will provide. Whether you have lots of wealth or very little, God has already provided for you his Son, Jesus, who became poor for our sake so that we through his poverty become rich. Christ purchased for us eternity through his death on the cross for our sins, regardless of what we can or cannot purpose for ourselves here on this earth. Now, when all is said and done, through faith in Jesus as our Savior from sin, the only emptiness Christ will leave us with is an empty tomb on earth, and our cups will overflow with everything in heaven. It’s why we no longer have to squeeze everything out of this life. This world is not all there is. We can simply enjoy this world for what it is, then we can enjoy so much more in the life to come.
Dear friends in Christ, if you & I are willing listen to other financial gurus when it comes to our money, listen to God more: money is not our master, God is; and that means we must think of money as a means to accomplish His purposes. Finally, that’s why Jesus talked about money like he did in our Gospel reading. He wants us to use our possessions in a way that ties into his work as the master of all. And think about this now: what an amazing thing that we can put money in a box at the back of church, or we can press a button on our phones to conduct a financial transaction… and more people wind up in heaven forever through the work it supports, since it leads to them hearing about Jesus. That’s incredible! Our ministry here at Eastside needs your offerings and mine – that’s the way ministry in our affluent world works! – and God has given us the ability to support it. So, support the work of the Church as God has enabled you to. It will be a blessing for others… and it will be a blessing for you.
First of all, God wants you and me to have the joy of contributing to something more meaningful than the “stuff” of our homes, or the “stuff” that lasts for day. That’s what we get in our offerings. Secondly, that’s also how we can truly enjoy the lesser things that money purchases us. Think of it: since money it no longer has to purchase what it could never afford – salvation, eternity, things that last forever; you already have that in Jesus! – now you can enjoy that Badgers game, you can enjoy that vacation home, you can enjoy that well-earned break, you can enjoy those nice clothes, you can enjoy that good food and drink… not because these things are your master; but because they are gifts from your master who loves you, whom you’re even more invested in, who has already given you everything in his son Jesus… In other words, these things are just the “frosting”, but who doesn’t like a little frosting, especially when you’ve already got the whole cake?… In other words, through faith in Jesus, we can have our cake and eat it too! God is too good to us!!! It was more than we could ever ask that God would pay the price to sacrifice his only beloved Son to save us from our sins. But not only does he give us that, he gives us these other things we can enjoy with our money as well. Thank God! And give back generously to him with your offerings. Amen.
