Toil Ceaselessly to Bury Even More

The choice of a greater fool

Jesus tells the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21). In it, God richly supplied the man. His ground “brought forth abundantly.” But the man chose not to enjoy it. He also chose not to be “rich in relation to God.” Instead, he just stacked it up in a bigger barn.

God calls him a fool. He received good fortune, and he just hid it away. That’s foolish. But he could have been even more foolish. He could have toiled ceaselessly and painfully just to hide away even more. That’s even more foolish.

Yet the attraction to buried wealth causes many to do just this. Paul writes,

“But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:9-10 NLT)

Just burying wealth is bad. Choosing this option is even worse. This is actively suffering simply to bury even more wealth.

Notice the attraction. The goal is “to be rich.” The attraction is to holding the money. The attraction is not to bingeing. It’s not to wild living. It’s not to spending money at all. The attraction is to money itself.

The result of this attraction is suffering. It is “ruin.” It is “destruction.” It is “many sorrows.”

Wealth building can be fun

Does this describe everyone who becomes rich? No. Many people have fun while accumulating wealth. Work doesn’t have to be toil. It’s possible to enjoy our work.

Consider someone who wants to make good art. They work hard on something they enjoy. Over time, they build skill and an audience. Along the way, the price they receive for their work grows. They bring good things into the world. They enjoy building those things.

Or perhaps someone wants to be an excellent surgeon. They work hard on something they enjoy. Over time, they build skills and receive recognition. They help people and bring good into the world.

Or perhaps someone wants to build a beautiful farm. They love caring for animals and making land flourish. They work hard on something they enjoy. Over time, their land and animals prosper, and their farm succeeds.

Or perhaps someone wants to build a thriving business that offers helpful products. They love creating a place where employees can thrive. They help bring good things into the world. Over time, the business grows.

All of these describe paths that can lead to wealth. But notice something important. The purpose of each path is to do something good. It’s to bring good into the world. Yes, all of these can lead to wealth. But wealth is a byproduct. It’s not the goal.

Wealth building can be fun unless it’s the goal

That all changes when the purpose changes. If the purpose becomes money, work can become toil. The result is often compromise and grief.

For the artist, creating beautiful art is no longer the goal. It’s just a way to get money. If pumping out more with lower quality brings in more cash, then that’s what will happen.

For the surgeon, helping others is no longer the goal. It’s just a side issue. If speed and long hours pay more, that’s what will happen.

The farmer’s attractive lifestyle and impact on the land take a back seat. If industrial farming makes more, that’s what will happen.

The business owner’s good influence on the world becomes secondary. If hiding deficiencies and churning employees increase profits, that’s what will happen.

What separates these lives? Purpose. Paul makes this contrast with a bit of wordplay in 1 Timothy 6. Those who suffer in verse 9 desperately desire “to be rich.” Those who experience enjoyment in verse 18 also desire “to be rich.” But their desire is “to be rich in good works.”

Notice how this one distinction separates the previous stories as well. One artist desires to be rich. The other desires to be rich in good works. One surgeon desires to be rich. The other desires to be rich in good works. The same difference also separates the two farmers and the two business owners.

Everything changes when the goal changes. 1 Timothy 6:9 describes,

“People who long to be rich” (NLT)

This isn’t just a wish. The Greek word means,

“To plan with full resolve (determination); (‘resolutely plan.’)”³⁶

It is,

“A strong term that underlines the predetermined (and determined) intention driving the planning.”³⁷

Once money becomes the determined goal, everything changes. It becomes the master. When that happens, “all kinds of evil” follow.

The problems with working “to be rich”

Those on the wrong path suffer in order “to be rich.” One problem with working “to be rich” is that we can never get there. As wealth accumulates, we simply redefine what it means to be rich. Solomon explained,

“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10 ESV)

Often, we can see this ongoing redefinition of “rich” in our own lives. What did it mean “to be rich” when you were a teenager? What did it mean in your twenties? What does it mean today?

That’s why this path is “a trap.” We never become rich; we just change what it means to be rich. Success might bring wealth, but that doesn’t reduce the desire to accumulate more. In the meantime, that wealth can’t be enjoyed. Why not? Because spending contradicts the determined goal of “to be rich.” It hurts accumulation.

But if we accumulate enough wealth, doesn’t this feeling fade? No. It never does. Solomon writes,

“I also amassed for myself silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces … Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.” (Ecclesiastes 2:8-9)

Solomon accumulated more than any of us ever will. He amassed several countries worth of wealth. He wasn’t just rich. He was the richest ever. So he would know. Does being this rich bring abundance and rest? No. He explains,

“When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look at them?” (Ecclesiastes 5:11)

Being rich doesn’t create abundance. And it doesn’t create rest. He continues,

“Sweet is the sleep of a working man, whether he eats a little or a lot, but the excess wealth of the rich will not allow him to rest.” (Ecclesiastes 5:12 ISV)

Another translation phrases it this way,

“The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.” (Ecclesiastes 5:12b GNT)

Success just increases the size of the machine we’re trying to keep running. That’s more stressful – not less. Solomon explains,

“For what does a person get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his activity is painful and irritating; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is futility.” (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23)

More success brings more anxiety – not more rest or abundance. This is life when we’re working “to be rich.” Paul says it leads to “ruin,” “destruction,” and “many sorrows.” Solomon calls it laboring “for the wind.” He describes this life by writing,

“This also is a sickening evil: exactly as a person is born, so will he die. What then is the advantage for him who labors for the wind? All his life he also eats in darkness with great irritation, sickness, and anger.” (Ecclesiastes 5:16-17)

This is not the good life. The problem is not wealth. The problem is the goal. If hoarding it up is the goal, wealth is stressful. Wealth is inherently uncertain and subject to loss. This uncertainty makes it a source of anxiety and worry. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes,

“Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of all anxiety. If our hearts are set on them, our reward is an anxiety whose burden is intolerable … When we seek for security in possessions, we are trying to drive out care with care, and the net result is the precise opposite of our anticipations.”³⁸

When the goal is money, the master is cruel. John Calvin writes of 1 Timothy 6:17-19,

“Men toil endlessly, tormenting themselves and working themselves to death as though they were their own executioners.”³⁹

They toil until death. Then what? Then they leave it all to death. When the determined goal is “to be rich,” the result is “ruin,” “destruction,” and “many sorrows.”

The two paths of wealth: Suffering to hoard or doing good to enjoy

Becoming or being rich isn’t inherently good or bad. We can do it the right way or the wrong way. One way is about painful struggle, hoarding, and inevitable loss. The other is about doing good and experiencing enjoyment. Scripture contrasts these two paths.

What does the right path look like? Paul explains it in one sentence (1 Timothy 6:17-19). We don’t place our hope in the uncertainty of hidden and disappearing riches (1 Timothy 6:17).⁴⁰ Instead, we have placed our hope

“on God, the One richly providing us all things for [the purpose of] enjoyment: to do good, to be rich in good works” (1 Timothy 6:17b-18a).⁴¹

The determined goal is not “to be rich.” Instead, the goal is to experience enjoyment. This comes from being “rich in good works.” We each enjoy whatever God provides by using it “to do good.” In Solomon’s words,

“I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 3:12b-13 NKJV)

Solomon’s phrase

“enjoy the good of all his labor” (NKJV)

is also translated

“sees good in all his labor” (NASB).

Work is not suffering just to get rich. Instead, we see it as an enjoyable way to bring good into the world. It’s an enjoyable way to live. The goal is

“to rejoice, and to do good in their lives.”

Another version translates this goal as

“be joyful and do good as long as we live.” (Ecclesiastes 3:12b ESV)

This is the right goal. This is the right path.

The right path is joy in doing good. The wrong path is hoarding and certain loss. Solomon makes this direct contrast. He writes,

“For to a person who is good in His sight, He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting [“gathering and storing up wealth” NIV] so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight.” (Ecclesiastes 2:26a)

This “task” of gathering and storing up wealth is also translated as

• “Toil”⁴²
• “Travail”⁴³
• “Struggle”⁴⁴
• “Trouble”⁴⁵
• Or even “vexation and superfluous care.”⁴⁶

This life of “toil” just to hoard wealth is not enjoyable. It’s not a blessing. It’s a curse. In 1 Timothy 6:9-10, these people “pierce themselves with many griefs” trying to build more wealth. Even if they’re successful, they just bury the wealth in the ground. And then, of course, they lose it all. They lose it, inevitably, to misfortune or death. They never enjoy. They only hoard. This way is a “trap.” It leads to “ruin and destruction.”

The fool or “sinner” gets a life of “toil” in order to hoard. Ultimately, he stacks it all up just to leave it to another. He only hoards; he never enjoys. Only the good person gets to enjoy.

One path is anxious hoarding and inevitable loss. The other is feeling joy and doing good. These two life experiences are not just different. They are opposites.

It’s your choice: Hoard it or enjoy it

Just having wealth isn’t the good life. It can even be part of a very bad life. But wealth does provide us with one thing. It provides us with an opportunity. It’s a brief, momentary, temporary opportunity. Solomon explains,

“Furthermore, as for every person to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also given him the opportunity to enjoy them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 5:19)

God can give wealth. Is this a blessing? Not necessarily. It’s just an opportunity. It’s an opportunity for enjoyment. And it’s also an opportunity for anxiety and worry. We can live the big, impactful life of a thoughtful wealth enjoyer. Or we can live the small, fearful life of an anxious wealth hoarder. The choice is up to us.

God can also give the ability to build wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). Is this a blessing? Not necessarily. It’s just an opportunity. We can “rejoice in our labor” (Ecclesiastes 5:19). Or we can “labor for the wind … with great irritation, sickness, and anger” (Ecclesiastes 5:17). The choice is up to us.

Having wealth can be enjoyable or stressful. Laboring can be enjoyable or stressful. What God gives us is an opportunity. Enjoyment isn’t automatic. It’s something we choose.⁴⁷ It’s not the only option. It’s just the only good option.

For more on this topic, see Chapter 5 in

Joyful Wealth Management: A Bible Study Discussion Guide 48