Work and Other Four Letter Words (Ecclesiastes 2:12-26)

It’s Labor Day weekend. The last summer hurrah. But it’s about more than just one last weekend before we start smelling Pumpkin Spice everywhere.

Have you heard that song “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford?

You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store

It’s about the coal mining industry from years ago. They’d typically load about 8-10 tons of coal per day. But a new coal miner was expected to load 16 tons on his first day.

Now why if this fella is working so hard is he “deeper in debt”? It’s because they didn’t pay you in real money. They paid you in scrip…which would kind of be like if you worked for Wal-Mart and they only paid you in Wal-Mart gift cards.

Of course you couldn’t pay your light bill or your rent or mortgage with a Wal-Mart gift card. No problem. They also own a few row homes out back and they will happily take Scrip.

And so the meaning of the song is that the guy is stuck living in a place that the company owns. The more he works the further in debt to the company he becomes. He’s just working to survive for them.

Which is where things like Labor Day came from. We outlawed these types of practices and this is a day for us to celebrate advancements that have been made in how we do work in our nation.

But even still many consider work to be a four-letter word. It wasn’t always like this. When God placed man in the Garden, He did so in order for us to “work” and “keep” the garden. It wasn’t toil, then.

But now…well....many of us feel like the guy in that song. What’s the point of this? Why am I bothering with work? Is this really all there is…is it just this sick cycle of work, work, work, and then you retire—enjoy a few years—and then you die? Is this all that life is?

Well that is what the Quester—is searching out. Where can gain be found under the sun? Is there anything that is going to have lasting value? Anything that will have left-overs? Listen in to see if he finds and answering in living right and working hard:

Ecclesiastes 2:12–26 ESV

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

I’m not sure if you’ve ever been there where v17 is. “So I hated life because of what is done under the sun was grievous to me”. It’s not a good place to be. It’s certainly not a good place to stay.

In fact he says it again in verse 18 when he starts talking about toil…that’s another four-letter word that means work. But it has within it the idea of empty work.

He is really at the point of despair here…how did he get there? Why is he in despair? Why does he hate his life and his work? How do people get to that spot?

Let’s take a look. Verse 12 is almost impossible to translate. I don’t know if anyone knows for sure what it means…but it has something to do with whether or not we can say that wisdom or folly is more valuable and if generations can build upon it…is anything added?

To put that simply…does it really matter if I’m wise or a fool? And he concludes that yes there is good to be had from being wise and not a fool. It’s the same as if you’d rather be walking around able to see or blind.

When I take my contacts out I can’t see a lick. It’s all one big giant blur. If I don’t have contacts in, I might as well just go to bed. It’s better to see than not see....that’s basically what he is saying.

And so living in wisdom—living wisely—and not acting the fool…is better because it’s like seeing.

ESWINE????

But then he seems to get a little depressed again…But what’s the point…both of them die.

This is the struggle of Asaph in Psalm 73....

What’s the point?

Why bother being wise? Nobody is going to remember you. You can be the wisest person in town, figure everything out, live perfectly wisely....but you are surrounded by idiots—they’ll remember Hitler and Stalin but they won’t remember you. And your wisdom dies with you.

All the stuff you’ve got figured out…it dies with you. What is to gain then? What is the point? Does it matter if I do one thing over the other…really?

And this is why he says in verse 17…so I hated life...

Because what is done under the sun was grievous to me. The word there is “evil”. And then he says again it’s empty…frustratingly absurd…just a vapor…wrestling a tornado…eating the wind...

This is where despair comes from. You look at all your options and none of them seem good. And remember what we said last week from Pascal…we all seek happiness…even the person who hangs themselves. That is what happens.

Somehow that seems like it might be the best option. Everything else is empty. Why is this choice any different from the rest?

And maybe you’ve been there...

How would you counsel the Quester here…? I think many times we try to say…hey that’s not true. There is meaning. You do matter. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Things aren’t all bad.

And I think the Quester tries that a little too....that’s why he tries pleasure…that is in some way what this quest is all about. But here he seems to have come to the end of the rope and he’s saying, I can’t live with the delusion anymore. I can’t try to convince myself that there is meaning under the sun. I just can’t keep playing that game....My eyes are opened.

I see now the difference between good and evil. I see my nakedness. I see the toil. I see the emptiness. And I hate it…I hate all of this under the sun.

What if he isn’t all wrong? What if his hatred isn’t an entirely wrong response? What if he’s actually hating the right things?

Maybe he’s hating the fact that we are no longer in the Garden of Eden. Our rest, rule, and relationship are now fractured. And all we have left is under the sun and it isn’t cutting it. And life outside the garden kind of stinks. Oh, it has it’s moments, that’s what he said last week....

But we have a pile of dead bodies out here outside the garden. We have death and toil and this seemingly endless cycle that doesn’t accomplish a thing. And I hate it. I hate that there doesn’t seem to be a point.

Hate is the four letter word he has at his disposal but he’s looking for another one…hope....but he momentarily settles on a different word…work…toil.

He tells us that he hated all of his work and toil. That’s basically him saying not so much the job itself but his paycheck. 16 Tons and what do you get?

He’s saying…how do I know that the person who comes after me....inheritance or even the person who does your job after you…how do I know this person isn’t going to be a complete fool and wreck the whole thing and then there is nothing left.

Build LEGO…tear it down.

So I gave up my heart to despair…what’s the point. Work does nothing but keep you up at night and fill you with sorrow. It’s nothing but a vexation. If you love your job, you’re just delusional and you haven’t thought about all this stuff yet. You’re able to blindly play with Hot Wheels and just enjoy stuff and never have to consider how empty all this is…It’s frustratingly absurd.

Then we come to verses 24-26. What do we do with these verses? Some see them as a conclusion. A happy turn…him saying…hey I found an answer!!

Others see it as a bit of a concession. Well at least you’ve got this...

And still others see it as entirely negative. Almost where he is upset with God that it’s all so unpredictable.

I’m not sure where I’m at. I do not believe it is entirely positive…because of what he says at the end of verse 26. When he says “this also is vanity and a striving after the wind” that is his formula for saying, “this isn’t my answer.

It’s key for us to understand his perspective as he is saying these things. Keep in mind he is talking about what is “under the sun”. This is another way of saying “outside the garden”. The place where rest, rule, and relationship are fractured. Where our people, place, and purpose are a bit like a carnival mirror. Every now and then it’ll be an accurate projection but for the most part it is distorted. All we really have are little shards.

So when he says, “there is nothing better for a person” he means… “under the sun”. And he’s saying if he find one of those shards…one of those little remnants of the Garden…and if God gives you the eyes to see it and the grace to enjoy it! Well, that’s awesome! There isn’t much better under the sun. This is the height of things.

And we can take verse 26 a couple of ways. One is to say that a good person—a morally upright person will get rewarded. And a sinner, a morally not good person will have their stuff stripped away. I think there is some sense in which that fits the overall story of the Bible. So that’s plausible.

But I think that might not be quite reading it from the perspective of the Quester. I think he is saying, and you could translate it this way…the one whom God decides to give wisdom, joy, knowledge they get it…to another person…the one that God decides not to put favor upon…well they get their stuff taken away. And there really isn’t any way to know which of these you’ll be. Some get to enjoy shards outside of Eden (if you do....great enjoy it) if you don’t well…sorry.

Try to enjoy what you can. But you need to know that even this…all of this…well it’s frustratingly absurd. It’s a chasing after the wind. Even if you get some enjoyment, some benefit from toil, a time to enjoy…it’s not ultimate.

What do we do with this?

Let me tell you a little of why I was excited about preaching through Ecclesiastes. It’s because I think it’s grounding. While it sounds like a book of despair…and it can get you there…where you are saying, “Man there is absolutely nothing under the sun that even matters at all…why bother with anything.” That’s possible to get there from here.

But I think it can also do something very healing for us. It can help us to view things with very loose hands. It can, frankly, help us to chill out. Because that I believe is where all of our anxiety and anger and fighting and despair and hopelessness and all the ick outside of Eden comes from....it’s from trying to find hope in things that aren’t big enough…it’s trying to find hope in things that have a bottom to them.

And all those emotions that I’ve spoken of happen because of wherever we are at on that journey of trying to fill the void.

You can see all of this in Luke 12. Starting in verse 13....you’ve got a guy “tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me”. There is your anger....if I just had my inheritance!!!

And then you’ve got this parable about the guy with the bigger barns…and the point there is that we’ve got exploitation…he’s selfish, greedy....

And then hope down to verse 22 and you’ve got anxiety....again what is in common in all of these is a striving after the wind. Trying to find hope in stuff that has a bottom. It’s not just about money and stuff. It’s about treasure. That doesn’t have to be monetary. It can be family. It can be friends. It can be fame.

This is what the Quester found. Under the sun it’s all chasing after the wind if you’re trying to find ultimate meaning. You aren’t going to acquire it. And that can lead you to despair…or it can open up the door to hope.

This is why Jesus said what he did at the end of that section in Luke 12.

Luke 12:32–34 ESV

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

There is another kingdom…one that isn’t under the sun but is over the sun. And this is where lasting treasure is found. And it’s a gift.

Okay…so what do we do now? How does this change things....do we follow the Quester in saying “I hate life...” it’s pointless it’s dumb. Just get me over the sun…get me into heaven?

No.

That’s where his point about “wisdom is better than folly” can be informative. We are subversive. We know how to enjoy things…We treat a thing for what it is.

I’m indebted to Zack Eswine for this illustration.

Team of 7-8 year olds…cheat, trips, trash-talk. Referees and coaches are all in on it. You coach the opposing team…what do you tell your players?

Give up…hate the game. I’m out of here.

Return the favor…if the only way to have gain is to cheat…well, let’s do that. Doesn’t matter anyways.

Or we can be subversive. Still play the game…but play it the right way.

Recovering Eden: The Gospel according to Ecclesiastes Mounting a Wisdom Resistance

In essence, the Preacher changes the purpose for playing the game. He calls us to question the motive by which we seek God and the world. For the Preacher, we do not play to win or to advance or to gain for ourselves. We play because of God and because of what such a relationship with God establishes. In our clubs, our workplaces, our families, our blended families, our churches, our governments, and our neighborhoods, wisdom is the way that God’s people choose to make a stand—even if it means that they are overlooked, undervalued, impoverished, slandered, forgotten, or misused. His notions are strange to us. He is saying that it is better to experience poverty, dismissal, and a life of forgotten service, than to find health, wealth, and happiness through foolish means and for a foolish purpose. Better to have Jesus and no money or status in the world than to have both money and status without Jesus (Luke 18:18–30).