Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous
Ecclesiastes 2:3-11 Victory Fellowship
January 28, 2024 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
Healing Service
Introduction: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (1984-1995)
Robin Leach’s voice is unforgettable. It was a peek into the life of a celebrity. It’s the chance for ordinary people to witness how extraordinary people live. And it was never a disappointment. The show was filled with the fancy cars, homes with 15 bedrooms and 26 bathrooms. These folks owned private jets and huge yachts. They ate lunches on Tuesday in Milan. And they rolled with people who were just like them – other really rich and really famous folks. And most of us loved every minute of it.
Most folks would swap lives with them in an instant if they could. Who doesn’t like nice things? Who wouldn’t love to be noticed on the street? To have access to exclusive clubs? To hang with other rich and famous folks? That’s why people watched the show! Not because they were disgusted but because they were envious.
A little over 2900 years before this show first aired, King Solomon was living the Lifestyle of the very Rich and very Famous. He doesn’t have much good to say about it.
I. Relating the Text: The Vanity of Wealth.
a. The personal fortunes of the world’s five richest people have more than doubled since 2020. In the next 10 years they are set to become trillionaires.
b. Tesla CEO Elon Musk $226.6 billion, Bernard Arnault and his family of luxury company LVMH $175.1 billion, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos $173.6 billion, Oracle founder Larry Ellison $134.9 billion, and investment guru Warren Buffett $119.5 billion.
c. 2 Chronicles 1:15 reports of Solomon: The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the lowland.
d. Yet for Solomon, he says I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
e. One study reports that over 60% of inherited wealth is squandered by the third generation.
f. Likewise, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education, 70% of lottery winners go bankrupt within a few years. Obtaining more money often leads to careless spending and the desire to get more money, and the greed can be destructive to the lives of winners and their families.
g. Solomon is correct to observe There is under new the sun.
II. Application:
a. Solomon concludes this chapter saying, For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without (God)? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy.
b. Blog writer Ajay Thomas* is responsible for preaching and vision as a pastor at Seven Mile Road in Philadelphia. He writes, “if Robin Leach did an episode with the Most Rich and Famous One of all, it would look hardly like what we’re used to. Consider these things:”
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)
c. Though He owns everything, He made himself poor. Though He is the King, He became a servant. Though He is the most powerful, He lived among the despised. Though the world centers around Him, He gave up his life for self-centered sinners
d. Oh, how different is our Jesus? There is no one like Him! How much better is He than the richest, most powerful in the world? There’s no comparison! Oh, how we ought to be like Him! Why would we envy anything less?
III. Conclusion:
a. As we continue to look to Jesus, may we become more like Him. May we be so consumed with His life, that we too would use our riches and power and influence on behalf of the vulnerable. So that above all else, the good news of the gospel would be known as our greatest treasure.
b. Jesus said, I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. We have a life in Christ far greater than Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. One that is eternal in the heavens, and here with us right now.
PRAYER & ANOINTING
SONG: In Jesus’ Name (God of the Possible) Katy Nicole
Ecclesiastes 2:3-11 (HCSB)
3 I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. 4 I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them. 6 I constructed reservoirs of water for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees. 7 I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men. 9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me. 10 All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. 11 When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
*https://sevenmileroadphilly.org/blog/lifestyle-of-the-most-rich-and-famous/
