Sermon Tone Analysis

In Greek Philosophy, there a man named Sisyphus, who angered the gods and was then punished, being forced to roll a rock up hill for all of eternity. .

However, right before he reached the top, the bolder would roll back down to the bottom of the hill, thus forcing Sisyphus to begin his work all over again.

And in light of Sisyphus’s fate, the philosophical question is: “Can Sisyphus’s life have any meaning in light of his meaningless task.”

And the resounding philosophical answer to this question, is: “No it can’t.

The story of Sisyphus is a remarkable story that shows us the futility of human work in light of our death.

Because the truth is, we are all Sisyphus, endeavoring to roll a rock up a hill, that will eventually roll right back down to the bottom.

And the reason is, no matter how much you strive,

No matter how hard you work,

No matter what you accomplish,

Sooner or later that builder of accomplishment is going to roll back down

For the truth is, every person’s accomplishments are eventually wiped out through death.

And so death is the great force that pulls the boulder back down to the bottom of the hill, where another person - another Sisyphus - takes and begins pushing the boulder in futility,

for the futile results are inevitable.

And yet, as the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us, we don’t get a choice in the matter!

For we are all Sisyphus, doomed to push a boulder up the hill that is inevitably going to roll right back down.

And what is this boulder?

Well that depends on the Sisyphus!

For some, its the pursuit of knowledge as we saw in week 2.

For some, it’s the pursuit of pleasure, which we saw in week 3,

And for some, as we’ll see today, it’s the pursuit of WORK.

BUT - as we saw last week,

ALL of these pursuits are doomed by the vanity of time,

which eventually causes all of our accomplishments to come rolling right back down to the bottom of the hill.

And yet, over and over again, humanity continues to try do find meaning in the meaningless!

Don’t believe me?

Let me show you a few examples:

For example: The American president, Theadore Roosevelt once said:

Bob Dylan said:

“What's money?

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”

Steve Jobs said:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.

And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

The 13th century Persian poet, Rumi once put it quite bluntly, saying:

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.”

Do you see that?

Rumi is saying that our existence - or we might say - our identity is directly related to our work!

It is “what you are made for!”

And since it’s what you are made for, it’s how you can find meaning in your life!

And boy have we tried this!

For example, here are some statistics I read:

According to Business Insider:

Americans work 110,000 hours in their life, just working!

Most people have held 7/8 jobs by age 30,

And, get this, one pastor I read pointed out that since 1970, Americans now spend 200 more hours a year at work!

57% of vacation days are never used

25% of people check on their work HOURLY via phone or email while on vacation

And, in Japan, 10,000 people die a year while at work at their desk!

And why?

Because we are a nation of work-a-holics.

How do you you know if you’re a work-a-holic?

One pastor I listened gave his congregants a test, asking:

Do you take work home with you on the weekends or with you on vacation?

Is work the activity you like to do best and talk about the most?

Has your family given up expecting you to be home on time?

“oops”

Do you regularly get impatient and frustrated with people at work, who don’t take work as seriously as you do?

Have your long hours damaged your relationships with friends or family?

Do you think about your work while driving, falling asleep, or even while talking to others?

Or, now that you’re retired, do you find yourself restless and needing something to do?

Why do we do this?

Why do we worship our work?

3 Reason:

Why do we worship our work?

The search for significance.

As Rumi pointed out, we believe it’s what we are made for.

We believe that if we do something significant in our work, we too then will be significant ourselves!

In my 20’s, when I was a security, I remember people asking me what I did for a living, and I always answered with a little bit of hesitation, and made sure they knew it wasn’t my career, as I was eventually looking to pastor a church.

But… when I became a director of security for a corporate Fortune 500 company, I didn’t hesitant to answer that question!

And why?

Because I was believing the lie that my work determined my significance!

Why do we worship our work?

The search for significance.

The search for Satisfaction.

Now, maybe you don’t love your job.

But, you love the satisfaction that your job gives you!

Like that amazing boat that drives you to what satisfies you in life!

I.E.

Fishing!

Or for you, maybe it’s hunting, golfing, that place on the lake!

Whatever!

Why do we worship our work?

The search for Significance.

The search for Satisfaction.

The search for Security.

With this, you love you job because it provides a secure way to not have to worry about your bills.

No not have to worry about car payments, house payments, or medical bills.

And so you look to job to provide you with comfort and security in a discomforting and VERY INSECURE LIFE!

Either way, whatever your reason, we easily can throw ourselves into our work in order to try and find meaning and satisfaction in life.

And yet, as the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us, this is completely impossible.

Why does Qoheleth say that work can’t satisfy?

First off, cuz we all die:

Qoheleth’s first point here is that even if you build your company,

Even if you’re super successful

Even if you make a lot of cash

Eventually the bolder of success comes rolling right back down, canceling out whatever accomplishments you may have made.

Do remember the quote from Leo Tolstoy we looked at a couple of weeks ago?

In light of this true, Tolstoy wrote:

My question—that which at the age of fifty brought me to the verge of suicide—was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man from the foolish child to the wisest elder: it was a question without an answer to which one cannot live, as I had found by experience.

It was: . . .