SERIES: Psalms, Cries of the Heart
The Cry for Riches
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 49
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: There are no rich people here at First Free—at least not filthy rich. You used to be rich if you were a millionaire, but a mere millionaire is a nobody today. There are nearly 4 million of them in the U.S. alone. Back in 1982 when Forbes compiled its first list of the 400 richest Americans, it took a minimum of $100 million to make the list. Now it takes a half billion. In the August 4 issue of Newsweek there was a feature article about “The New Rich,” and no one at First Free was on the list. I checked, because the tithe of anyone on that list could really boost our building fund.
Yet, in another sense, everyone here this morning is rich. I don’t care where you live or what you drive or how much money you have or lack in stocks, or even how much you owe. You’re rich. You may feel poor, but that’s only because you are comparing yourself to people who have a lot more than you have. Let me suggest you compare yourself instead to the three million squatters who inhabit the barrios surrounding Caracas, Venezuela—homes built of scraps from the dump, sewage flowing opening in the dirt ruts that serve as streets, food scavenged from the garbage cans of the middle class. Or compare yourself to the hundreds of millions of outcastes in India, or the starving masses of North Korea.
What I’m suggesting is something you already know—wealth is a very relative thing. Therefore, whenever we read in the Scripture some exhortation about wealth, we must be very careful not to discard it too quickly on the basis that it doesn’t apply to us because we’re just middle class. Even if we were tempted to do that, our text for today won’t allow it.
In the introduction to the 49th Psalm, a Psalm I have entitled, “The Cry for Riches,” the writer specifically addresses every single one of us, exempting no one and allowing very little wiggle-room. Listen to Psalm 49:1-4. “Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world (that covers just about everyone!), both low and high, rich and poor alike: My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding. I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle.”
The point is clear. What the Psalmist is about to offer us is wisdom from his heart that will result in understanding for anyone who has an ear to hear.
So much for the introduction. What is his argument? I think it can be conveyed by means of two propositions:
- There is a stark contrast between the present state and the ultimate state of those who trust in riches.
- There is a stark contrast between the destiny of those whose god is wealth and the destiny of those whose wealth is in God.
Listen as we read the rest of the Psalm and see if you can pick up these two key points:
{5} “Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me— {6} those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? {7} No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him— {8} the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough— {9} that he should live on forever and not see decay.
{10} For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. {11} Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. {12} But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. {13} This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah
{14} Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions. {15} But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah
{16} Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; {17} for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. {18} Though while he lived he counted himself blessed—and men praise you when you prosper— {19} he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life.
{20} A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.”
The prosperity of the godless was one of the great “enigmas of life” to the pious Jew, and it demanded a solution. Asaph wrestled with it in Psalm 73, as we saw a month ago. But Asaph was concerned principally with the prosperity of the wicked. What about the prosperity of those who are not particularly wicked—just too busy for God? Strangely, that is an issue that may cause us even more struggles. Here’s why. It troubles us that a wicked person like John Gotti or Madonna or Dennis Rodman or Mike Tyson should have millions and millions of dollars to consume upon his or her lusts, but most of us don’t really envy them. We wouldn’t want to be in their shoes precisely because their lifestyles are so contrary to our standards.
But if I mention Bill Gates, Oprah, Bill Cosby, Warren Buffett, or Tiger Woods, that’s another matter. Assuming that none of these individuals is particularly wicked (I don’t know much about their personal lives), they certainly are very rich, and we can spend a lot of emotional energy envying them and stewing because they have it and we don’t. (Note: This sermon was written long before several of the individuals mentioned above were revealed to be, well, rather wicked.)
Psalm 73 is addressed to the confused who are struggling with injustice. Psalm 49 is addressed to the envious who are struggling with jealousy.
At heart most of us in the West, even those of us who profess faith in Christ, are essentially materialistic. That is, we think more readily in terms of the material things we see rather than spiritual realities we cannot see, and we have a strong inclination to trust wealth and what we can accomplish with it. Trust in riches is a persistent and universal problem. This Psalm was written to address it and to help us avoid the pitfalls associated with it.
Let’s consider the first proposition offered to us, namely…,
There is a stark contrast between the present state and the ultimate state of those who trust in riches.
I think the best way to get a handle on this is to separate what the Psalmist tells us about wealth into two categories: the benefits and the liabilities. He doesn’t try to tell us that wealth is worthless—we know better than that. But he does stress that its present benefits need to be considered against the backdrop of its ultimate liabilities.
The present benefits of worldly wealth
The rich person’s name is preserved. (11) You know something, a person’s name is his most cherished possession. Meet someone at church who remembers your name the second time you are introduced, and your estimation of that person increases exponentially. In many cultures fathers long for a son to carry on their name. Companies are named after their founders, buildings after their benefactors, ministries after their leaders.
The rich clearly have an inside track on preserving their names. Verse 11 speaks of how they tend to name lands after themselves. And not just lands, but also cars, foundations, universities, parks, etc. Just think of some of the names that have been preserved because of great wealth: Rockefeller Plaza, Carnegie Hall, Ford cars, Vanderbilt University, Hearst Castle, the Trump Towers, Busch Stadium. You’ll never find my name (or probably your own) on a building or a park. Why? Because we’re too humble, right? No, it’s because we’re not rich. That’s one of the present benefits of worldly wealth.
The rich person has followers who quote him as though he were a prophet. (13) That’s my interpretation of what the Psalmist is saying in verse 13 when he speaks of the rich man’s followers who approve his sayings. There’s no doubt whatever that the rich of this world have followers. Wealth attracts hangers-on like T.V. cameras attract politicians. People follow the rich around to snap pictures, and they follow their lives in the tabloids. I caught a little of a program on channel 9 a week or two ago. It was about the photographers who have created an entire industry of following Princess Diana around twenty-four hours a day—hoping to get a picture of her walking from her car into a store. Unbelievable. (You and I have to go to a studio and pay to get somebody to take our picture). They wouldn’t be doing that if Diana weren’t rich (and beautiful!). Now, granted, that attention is not all pleasant, but I think most of the rich and famous prefer it to being ignored.
But what is really amazing is how the rich are quoted. They are constantly being interviewed by the press, and they can speak on subjects of which they have no knowledge, yet people will treat them like prophets—just because they’re rich. It never ceases to amaze me how Ted Turner is quoted like an expert on theology without ever going to seminary. (Oh well, his wife got to be an expert on the Viet Nam War by virtue of being an actress, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised).
By the way, do you notice that the fate of the followers of the rich is the same as the fate of the rich? It says in verse 13, “This (i.e., perishing like a beast) is the fate of those who trust in themselves, andof their followers.” God puts the worldly rich and the greedy poor in the same category and denounces both.
The rich person owns mansions and is able to add to them continually. (14, 16) In verse 14 his mansions are mentioned, and verse 16 speaks of the splendor of his house increasing. I can’t help but think here of the homes some of the newly rich are building. Charles Simonyi is a Microsoft executive who just built a little 21,000 square foot house outside Seattle. And he’s single! An ultramodern, totally wired palace, it’s got its own heliport, a putting green, an art museum, a computer lab, a video arcade, a James Bond programmable bed, and a 60-foot indoor lap pool with underground windows. Real estate taxes alone are $180,000 a year. And that’s a real dump compared to what his boss, Bill Gates, is building. And Larry Ellison of Oracle is building a $40 million house that won’t be finished for five more years. This is the same guy whose Gulfstream 5 jet cost him $37 million, plus $10 million in upgrades.
Now if you think Bill Gates and Larry Ellison are going to relax once their houses are finished and just enjoy them, you’re nuts. Someone else will build a nicer house and then they’ll have to put on a 10,000 square foot addition to maintain their edge.
Let’s be fair. There’s not a one of us that wouldn’t enjoy living in these homes, or just visiting them, so long as we didn’t have to pay the electric bill or do the windows. These homes are a benefit that is significant.
One final present advantage of the rich mentioned by the Psalmist is this:
The rich person enjoys the praise of men. (18) See the parenthesis in verse 18: “men do praise you when you prosper.” If you want to be noticed, if you want to be praised, if you want to be valued in this society, getting rich is the surest and quickest way. It’s quicker than intelligence, quicker than good looks, and a whole lot quicker than godliness.
In a Post Dispatch article on August 1, Robert Wuthnow, a professor of sociology at Princeton University, wrote, “Americans very much admire people who have more money than they do; secretly they wish they could be more like Bill Gates or Donald Trump, even while they give lip service to Mother Teresa. In fact, the only rich people Americans don’t admire are crooks.” I wonder if he’s not being too generous in that last observation.
Those are some of the present benefits of worldly wealth. But that is not the whole story, for the Psalmist also describes some of its liabilities.
The ultimate liabilities of worldly wealth
It generates self-confidence and boastfulness. (6) Verse 6 speaks of “those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches.” Of course, not every rich person trusts in his wealth, but the fact is indisputable that great wealth has a tendency to create self-confidence rather than God-confidence. After all, you don’t need to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” if you’re a billionaire or even a millionaire. Nor is every rich man boastful. But one doesn’t have to meet too many Donald Trumps or Ted Turners to come to the conclusion that boastfulness is uniquely tempting for the filthy rich.
It cannot purchase exemption from death. (7-8) Wealth can buy a lot of things. Jim Clark, cofounder of Netscape, is a very rich man and one known for his conspicuous consumption. He makes no apologies: “I grew up in Texas, the prototypical poor boy,” he said. “When you make it, you start to think there isn’t anything you want that you can’t buy.”[i] He’s wrong. Money can buy:
A bed but not sleep;
Books but not understanding;
Food but not an appetite;
Fashion but not beauty;
Admirers but not friends;
Toys but not enjoyment;
A house but not a home;
Medicine but not health;
Luxuries but not culture;
Fun but not happiness;
Religion but not salvation.[ii]
One of the most important things money cannot buy is exemption from death. Look at verses 7, 8 again: “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly (priceless), no payment is ever enough—that he should live on forever and not see decay.” Oh, it may be that a rich person can purchase better health care than the average person and thus, humanly speaking at least, prolong his life a little. But the fundamental position of Scripture is that our days are numbered by God before they even begin (Psalm 139:16), and no doctor can ultimately change that. It is patently obvious from mortality statistics that the rich, as a class, do not live any longer than the rest of us. In fact, the opposite is probably the case.
Its owner must surrender it when he dies. (10) The point of verse 10 seems to be that everyone—wise and foolish alike—die and leave their wealth to others. “How much did he leave?” is often the question when a person dies, but the answer is always the same, “Everything.” But not only must we surrender it at death; we also lose all control of it. No matter what lengths a person goes to in setting up wills and trusts, sometimes an estate goes to relatives that were purposely left out, and sometimes it ends up benefitting causes the owner hated.
Perhaps this will be less of a problem to many of the new rich than it was to the wealthy of past generations, for these guys have raised spending to something of an art form, rather than figuring out ways to leave wealth to their heirs. Newsweek comments, “The techno-barons have more money than they can possibly spend in a lifetime, but they’re trying anyway. If you can’t take it with you, you might as well spend it on $14-a-pound ostrich salami.” [iii] What a sad commentary! Whatever happened to the fine art of giving?
The only permanent piece of real estate a man can own is his own grave. (11) Verse 11 is profound: “Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves.” The rich may leave huge estates in their names, but the day they die and for the rest of time, the only piece of real estate that belongs to them is a little plot approximately three feet by eight feet by six feet deep. And now sometimes even that is shared by another person, since they are stacking caskets these days.
What a contrast between the present state and the ultimate state of those who trust in riches! Here in this life they have name recognition, people treat them like royalty, they enjoy princely mansions, and they are praised by other people. But none of that will count for beans when the bell rings.
Now the second major point the Psalmist makes for us here in Psalm 49 is that …
There is a stark contrast between the destiny of those whose god is wealth and the destiny of those whose wealth is in God.
Contrary to much popular opinion,
The greatest divide between people is not economic but spiritual. (12-14) The economic divide is significant, but it is only temporary. The spiritual divide can be permanent. Look at verses 12-14 again:
“But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah. Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.”
This issue of eternity is pretty basic. If this life is all that there is, as Carl Sagan and many others have so eloquently argued, then there can be no God, or at least no just God, for it is patently obvious that justice is rarely achieved in this life. Some good people endure incredible pain; some wicked people enjoy incredible prosperity. If there is no heaven and hell to balance the books, then life is a cruel joke played on us by fate. But the Bible says this life is not all that there is. God says that “in the morning” the books will be balanced.
Not only is the greatest divide between people spiritual rather than economic, but …
The power and prerogatives of wealth are all temporary. (12) Verse 12: “But man, despite his riches, does not endure.” In fact, in respect to longevity he is no different from the beasts. Notice the comparison to sheep destined for slaughter in verse 14. The Hebrew literally says that death will “shepherd” them. The Psalmist may have had the well-known words of Psalm 23 in mind here, “The Lord is my shepherd,” as he writes that in contrast, “Death is their shepherd.”
You know something? The power and prerogatives of wealth aren’t what they’re cracked up to be even while the rich are living, much less after they’re dead. John D. Rockefeller said, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” W. H. Vanderbilt said, “The care of $200,000,000 is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.” John Jacob Astor claimed, “I am the most miserable man on earth.” And Henry Ford wrote, “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.” The power and prerogatives of wealth are all temporary.
The righteous will one day rule over the worldly rich. (14) Verse 14: “The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.” I don’t know how much the OT Psalmist understood about the resurrection or the afterlife, but he surely gives us a fascinating hint here that there is coming a day when the poor saint will get his due. Randy Alcorn calls this “The Doctrine of the Great Reversal.” Simply put, it teaches that in eternity many of us will find ourselves in opposite conditions from our current situation on earth. The worldly rich will be unspeakably poor. The righteous poor will be unspeakably rich (see Luke 16 and the story of the rich man and Lazarus). I can’t help but think of Hebrews 11 and what it tells us of Moses:
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”
Moses believed in the Great Reversal.
Beginning in verse 15 the Psalmist offers his most important point for most of us:
We should not be overawed by the rich, for God will do for the righteous what all the wealth in the world cannot do for the rich man. (15-19) The words of verse 16 are directed at the believer who is tempted to be intimidated by the wealth he sees all around him. “Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases.” Don’t grovel in their presence. Why? Because it’s all temporary, it’s all ephemeral, and it is all ultimately dust. The worldly rich, i.e., the rich who are worldly, will never see the light of life, verse 19. In contrast, the Psalmist says with confidence in verse 15, “God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah.”
Remember verse 8? No ransom is large enough to pay for a life, but now we read that God Himself will redeem the righteous. The term “redeem” is a commercial term, meaning “to buy out of the marketplace.” Spiritually, it refers to God’s work in buying us out of sin’s marketplace and setting us free. Only God can do that. Further, He will take the righteous to himself for all of eternity. Friends, we leave the world either with God or with nothing.
Conclusion: The problem is not riches; it is riches without understanding. Verse 20: “A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.” Please understand this morning that Psalm 49 is not attacking wealth. Wealth no more makes a man wicked than poverty makes a man good. Riches can be a great blessing, and for some it is. I have known some relatively wealthy people who were generous givers with servant attitudes and a heart for God. By using their gift of giving they became a great blessing to many, and to the Lord. There is not a word in this Psalm that disparages the godly rich who receive their wealth honestly, employ it generously, and even enjoy it humbly. But our Psalm does attack the attitude of self-sufficiency and the practice of conspicuous consumption so often associated with riches.
Spurgeon tells about a preacher who was called to speak to a dying old miser who wanted him to pray for his soul but declined to shake the pastor’s hand. The preacher nevertheless talked to him about eternity and the plan of salvation, but when he asked the man what he was trusting, the miser confessed that under the sheets his hands were clutching the keys to his safe deposit box and that is why, even though he was in the process of breathing his last breaths, he could not take the preacher’s hand.
Don’t be so foolish. Relax your grip on perishing treasures, don’t be overawed by the wealth of others, place your hand in the hand of the One who died to save you from your sin.[iv]
DATE: August 10, 1997
Tags:
Riches
Wealth
Power
Destiny
[i] https://www.newsweek.com/cyber-toy-story-172202.
[ii] I modified this quote as found at:https://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Money__will_buy_a_bed_but_not_sleep%3B_books_but_not_brains%3B_food_but_not_appetite%3B_finery_but_not_bea/18360/.
[iii] Newsweek, “Cyber Toy Story,” August 3, 1997
[iv]James Montgomery Boice, Psalms, Vol. 2 ,414.