The Fog of Work

Lead Vocalist (Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Hopson)

Good morning family!

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Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Psalm 90:12–17)

Prayer of Praise (Susana Donahue)

All Praise to Him

Ancient of Days

Prayer of Confession (Jim Lewis), Envy

Assurance of Pardon (Romans 8:1-2)

Lord From Sorrows Deep I Call

Jesus Strong and Kind

Scripture Reading (Eccl. 3:16-4:6)—page 658 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Hopson)

Prayer for PBC—Trust

Prayer for kingdom partner—Cuidad de Gracia (Carlos Llambes)

Prayer for US—President's cabinet

Prayer for the world—Bahrain

Leader—_________

Social issue(s)—_________

Spiritual issue(s)—_________

Local churches—_________

Laborers—_________

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

The worst job I’ve ever had was during my freshman year at Bob Jones University: I was a cafeteria dishwasher.

My job was to stand at a conveyor belt while tray after tray of dirty dishes rolled in. I had to scrape off half-eaten food, rinse what remained, and load the dishes onto another belt that fed into a massive industrial washer.

It was messy. It was wet. We wore rubber boots, waterproof aprons, and thick gloves to keep from being soaked.

And it was grueling. Thousands of students ate three meals a day, and our small crew had to keep the trays, cups, and utensils moving—or the whole line would back up.

But the worst part was that I only earned about $25 a week—and not because I’m that old. Most of my pay came in the form of a tuition scholarship.

I’m not proud of this, but I looked for every excuse I could find to get out of that job.

I couldn’t skip work or show up late. Bob Jones was a very strict Christian school and you could get demerits.

I didn’t smoke, so I couldn’t sneak smoke breaks—not that Bob Jones would’ve allowed that anyway.

So I did what I could: I took the longest breaks possible… in the employee bathroom. Let’s just say I spent more time on those toilets than any healthy young man should. And yes—once or twice, I fell asleep.

By God’s grace, my work ethic has improved a lot over the past 23 years.

These days—unless I’m praying—I always work with my eyes open.

And that’s exactly what the author of Ecclesiastes wants us to do: to work with our eyes open.

Perhaps you picked up on this as we read Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:6 a few moments ago.

The author, who calls himself “the Preacher,” is most likely King Solomon.

In this section of the book, he continues taking us down what we’ve been calling “the dark path to deep joy.”

As he reflects on life under the sun, he focuses on two repeated themes: what we see and how we work.

He talks about “seeing” seven times in this passage, and references work at least four times.

So here’s the Big Idea that holds this passage together:

We can find deep joy in our work as we open our eyes and respond rightly to what we see.

With God’s help this morning, we’re going to answer two basic questions:

What Must We SEE?

How Should We RESPOND?

1) What Must We SEE?

All of us work. Or at least all of us should. You may not get a paycheck, but if you’re an able-bodied human being you have work to do under the sun—whether that’s homeschooling your kids, caring for your home, studying at school, doing chores for mom and dad, or washing dishes at a college cafeteria.

If you’re going to find deep joy amidst the humdrum monotony of whatever it is you do for work, you need to open up your eyes.

First, you must see that...

A) WICKEDNESS is Everywhere

Ecclesiastes 3:16—Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.

We shouldn’t be surprised that the Preacher looks at the world and sees wickedness there.

What should be surprising is where he sees it.

He sees wickedness in the courtroom, a place that is supposed to be the place of justice.

And he sees wickedness in “the place of righteousness,” which is most likely a reference to the temple.

We see the same things today, don’t we? We see wicked, corrupt judges who are influenced by bribes and influence. We see wicked pastors flying on expensive jets while they’re fleecing the sheep they’re pretending to minister to.

If you don’t open your eyes to the reality of wickedness, you will have a hard time finding joy in your work.

You’ll blame your frustrations at work on a bad boss or a bad work environment. You’ll tell yourself everything would be so much easier if only you could find a better job with better people.

Or maybe you’ll stop working entirely because you can’t find the right fit.

Or maybe you took a job where you expected to find righteous people, only to find out there was wickedness there too. And now you’re overwhelmed by depression.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying it’s never right to look for a new job. I’m not saying there aren’t reasons why you would want to get out of a certain company or career field.

But I am saying one way to insulate yourself against depression and despair at work is to open your eyes to the reality that wickedness is everywhere. Even at work. Even, sometimes, when you’re working for a Christian company. Or in a Christian church.

If you’re going to find deep joy in your work you must open your eyes to the reality that wickedness is everywhere.

Second, you must see that…

B) DEATH Comes for Everyman

If we’ve learned anything so far from the book of Ecclesiastes, it’s the inescapable reality of death.

Ecclesiastes 3:19–21—For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?”

It’s very easy to misunderstand what Solomon is saying here.

In verse 19, he’s not denying there are differences between humans and animals. But he is saying we are the same in the sense that we all die.

In verse 20, he’s not denying the reality of an afterlife. But he is saying that all of us—humans and animals—return to the dust when we die.

And in verse 21, he’s not denying that human souls are everlasting.

The word “know” there means “to comprehend, to understand completely,” or “to perceive, to observe.” [2]

So he’s asking, “Who can observe or understand completely what happens to the human soul?” The answer, of course, is no one. The soul is invisible, so we must have faith to believe what the Bible teaches.

The Preacher tells us what he believes about the soul in...

Ecclesiastes 12:5b, 7—… man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. . . and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Now, once we’ve cleared up some of the possible confusion about these verses we must wrestle with what Solomon is actually saying.

You and I will suffer the same fate as the roadkill we barely notice on the drive to church.

Yes, the Bible teaches that humans are different from animals. We are created in the image of God. We have souls that will live forever somewhere. But we believe that as a matter of faith. There is no test that can measure the soul.

The parts of you that can be prodded and pricked and weighed and measured are all going to eventually fade into dust.

Few articulate this haunting reality better than the agnostic poet Philip Larkin...

I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.    Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.    In time the curtain-edges will grow light.    Till then I see what’s really always there:    Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,    Making all thought impossible but how    And where and when I shall myself die.    Arid interrogation: yet the dread Of dying, and being dead, Flashes afresh to hold and horrify. [1]

If you don’t open your eyes to the reality of death, you will have a hard time finding joy in your work.

As long as you ignore the reality of death, you’ll chase status, promotions, and a legacy at work as if those things will make you immortal.

You’ll turn your work into an identity, and you’ll have a hard time letting work go because that’s all you have.

If you’re going to find deep joy in your work you must open your eyes to the reality that death comes for everyman.

Third, you must see that…

C) OPPRESSION Poisons Everything

Skip down to...

Ecclesiastes 4:1–3—Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Our modern world is particularly aware of the sin of oppression. The strong oppress the weak, and the weak have nobody to comfort them.

But the Preacher recognizes something we often miss. The oppressors aren’t just hurting others. They’re hurting themselves. And there’s nobody able to comfort them either.

The Preacher looks at all this and he wishes he had never been born!

Now, you need to understand that the Preacher is not giving us an objective, absolute truth about human existence.

He is opening up a window into his own soul, telling us how he feels when he considers the evil in this world.

And if you have never felt something like this it’s only because you’ve not looked hard enough at the evils around you.

In his book on Ecclesiastes, Living Life Backward, David Gibson says the Preacher is describing how it feels to watch the news reports about “Baby P” instead of changing the channel because you just can’t bear to watch. Baby P was a 17-month old baby boy in London who died after suffering over fifty injuries during an eight-month period. During that time he was repeatedly seen by health care professionals who did nothing to stop the unspeakable abuse this child endured. [3]

I’ll be honest, as I did my own reading about the unspeakable horrors inflicted on this precious baby boy, I became sick to my stomach.

If you don’t open your eyes to the reality of oppression, you will have a hard time finding joy in your work.

Your work will become shallow, disconnected, and self-serving. You may be successful and make a lot of money, but your work won’t bring you joy because it isn’t rooted in truth.

If you ignore the injustices in our world, you might use your job as a distraction. It’ll be a way to escape, to numb yourself to the pain around you. But eventually a pain will confront you that work will not allow you to escape. And you’ll be devasted by it.

Like turning bright lights on after your eyes have become acclimated to the dark.

You’ll miss out on the types of work that actually push back against the darkness around you. You won’t ever even consider work—whether vocational or volunteer—that fights against oppression. Because it’s far easier just to pretend it doesn’t exist.

If you’re going to find deep joy in your work you must open your eyes to the reality that oppression poisons everything.

Third, you must see that…

D) ENVY Motivates Everybody

Ecclesiastes 4:4—Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

One writer said, “If envy were a fever, all the world would be ill.” [4]

The British playwright and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan said “There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy.” [5]

Just think about it for a second. It’s relatively easy for us to be sad when someone we love is sad. It’s not incredibly difficult to weep with those who weep.

Do you know what’s harder? Rejoicing with those who rejoice. Especially when the person rejoicing has something that you don’t have.

Can you celebrate when someone else receives the attention you don’t have?

Or the promotion you wanted?

Or the family you prayed for?

The preacher is not being pessimistic here. He’s being realistic. Envy corrupts us far more than we realize.

Apart from grace, all of our work is motivated by envy.

If you don’t open your eyes to the reality of envy, you won’t be able to enjoy your work for its own sake.

You won’t work because you see God-honoring value in your profession.

You’ll work because you want to use your work to get something else—more money, more status, more recognition, more pleasure, more, more, more.

Like a hamster on a wheel, envy will drive you to work harder but you’ll never get anywhere and you’ll never rest.

If you’re going to find deep joy in your work you must open your eyes to the reality that envy motivates everybody

Finally, you must see that…

E) GOD Judges Everyone

It would be easy to despair and say, “What’s the point, then?!? Why try to do what’s right—if wickedness is everywhere, death comes for everyman, oppression poisons everything, and envy motivates everybody?!?”

Twice in our text the Preacher looks beyond the sun to the One who created it.

Twice he zooms out and considers life vertically. Life with God in the picture.

Look at what he says in...

Ecclesiastes 3:17–18—I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.

Why should we strive for righteousness when wickedness is everywhere? Because the wicked won’t get away with it in the end.

Why should we care about anything in this life? Because this life isn’t all there is. God is testing us in this life—even when we’re acting like animals—and He will one day call every single one of us to give an account.

Unbeliever: repent and believe the Gospel!

Christian: if you’ve done that, you’re prepared to respond rightly to what we have seen.

So what do we do with all of this? We’ve opened our eyes to the painful realities of life under the sun—but now what? That’s what the Preacher turns to next.

2) How Should We RESPOND?

Remember we said when we began that this is a passage about seeing, and it’s a passage about work.

The painful realities of life in a fallen world aren’t supposed to go in one ear and out the other. They’re supposed to change us.

And the area where the Preacher wants to focus our response is in our work.

Most of you will spend about 20-25% of your waking adult life in some kind of work—even if your job is staying at home with the kids.

So how we respond at work to what we see in the world around us is no small matter.

And it’s a reminder that God is not merely interested in what you do on Sunday mornings. He cares about every aspect of your life, including how you spend your workweek!

So let’s consider three ways we should work differently when we open our eyes to life in a fallen world.

First, we should...

A) Stop SLACKING

Ecclesiastes 4:5—The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

Some people look at the realities of life in a fallen world and they’re paralyzed by fear.

So they fold their hands and don’t work at all.

But here’s the thing: a lazy refusal to work is as foolish as eating your own flesh. It’s a slow and painful version of self-destruction.

The Puritan preacher Thomas Brooks said this: “O the deadly sins, the deadly temptations, the deadly judgments that idle and slothful Christians are given up to; therefore, be active, be diligent, be abundant in the work of the Lord. Idleness is the very source of sin. Standing pools gather mud and nourish and breed venomous creatures, and so do the hearts of idle and slothful Christians.” [6]

Laziness isn’t restful—it’s destructive. Like spiritual cannibalism, it slowly devours you.

Christian: how is your work? Are you folding your hands and eating your own flesh? Are you prone to laziness and idleness?

When you’re confronted with the pain of life in a fallen world are you tempted to stay home and bury your head under the covers?

If you’re going to respond rightly to what we see in this life, you must repent of any temptation towards laziness.

But we can’t stop there. Second, we must...

B) Stop STRIVING

Ecclesiastes 4:6—Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

If the slacker folds his hands and does nothing, the striver does the exact opposite.

The striver isn’t content with a single handful. He always wants more.

He tries to fill up both hands, but in the end he’s just got two handfuls of wind.

Jesus gives us the perfect picture of this person in…

Luke 12:16–21—And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Christian: how is your work? Are you constantly chasing after more? Are you hoarding more than what you need, or are you content with a single handful with quietness?

Perhaps the easiest way to measure how well you’re doing here is to look at your giving.

The story is told of a chicken and pig that lived on a beautiful farm. The chicken said to the pig one day, "I want to do something special for Old MacDonald. He's been such a good farmer to us. Why don't we make him a special breakfast?" The pig replied, "Sounds good to me. What did you have in mind?" "Bacon and eggs," the chicken responded. "Oh no," the pig replied. "For you that would be a donation. For me it would be a sacrifice."

Let me ask you, Christian—are you willing to give sacrificially? Are you willing to stretch yourself in your giving, to go "beyond your means" for the sake of the Gospel? Or are you content making occasional donations?

C. S. Lewis said, "I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.” [7]

Only when we stop slacking and stop striving can we truly enjoy our work. Only then can we…

C) Start SAVORING

Ecclesiastes 3:22—So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

In his book on Ecclesiastes, Bobby Jamieson helpfully writes this about that word “lot.”

“Because God is the allotter, we human recipients have no say over the quality or quantity of our portion. A lot is something you are assigned and stuck with, regardless of whether you find it sufficient or think you deserve more. You have no say over its scope. . . . Modernity is the illusion that you can always expand your share of the world; [the Preacher’s] wisdom is that your life is enclosed by limits you do not set.” [8]

This doesn’t mean you can’t look for a new job, or start a new career, or seek a promotion. But it does mean that you may not get those things, no matter how much you desire them.

So you and I must learn to look at our work, trust God is sovereign, and learn how to find joy in it whether it’s our dream job or not.

If I could do it over again, I would approach my job as a dishwasher a lot differently today.

Back then, I just wanted to survive my shift. I dreaded clocking in. I watched the clock like a prisoner. But if I knew then what I know now — that work is a gift from God, not a punishment — I would’ve tried to savor it.

I would’ve tried to be thankful that I had strong arms and a healthy body. I would’ve looked at each tray as a way to serve my fellow students — some of whom were probably as tired and stressed as I was.

I would’ve tried to smile at my coworkers. Maybe even prayed for them while I worked. And I would’ve reminded myself that Jesus washed feet — so surely, I could wash trays.

Savoring your work doesn’t mean every task is easy or fun. It means you’re awake to the presence of God in the middle of it. You trust that He’s assigned your lot. And you receive even the hard, messy, monotonous parts of your job as opportunities to glorify Him.

We can find deep joy in our work as we open our eyes and respond rightly to what we see.

But we need to open our eyes a bit wider than what we can learn from the book of Ecclesiastes.

We need to look backwards to the sin of Adam, that brought all this evil into the world. We need to remember how God cursed the ground and told him that his work would now be infested by thorns and thistles.

Ever since then work in a fallen world is filled with things that threaten to steal our joy.

Wickedness, oppression, envy, and death plague us at every turn.

Or sometimes it’s just the mundane reality that another 500 dishes that need to be washed before your shift at work is over.

And we need to look backwards to the true and better Adam. We need to remember how God sent His Son to redeem us, so we can find joy under the sun. Even at work.

Jesus literally wore the curse that plagues our work when a crown of thorns was shoved onto his forehead.

He died the death we deserved to die, a victim of Jewish wickedness and Roman oppression.

But He didn’t stay dead. On the third day, He rose from the dead so that we can have eternal life!

That’s what we celebrate every time we take communion.

And it’s the only truth that can give us deep joy.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Keep the Feast

Communion

Benediction (1 Corinthians 15:58)