Ecclesiastes 2:18-26 (Sorrow & Joy in Work)

Introduction

Many of us have probably heard of the cliché (or the stereotype) – a man devotes himself to his career, to his bank account, and to his worldly success, and by the time his kids become adults, they feel alienated from him because they would have preferred to enjoy him over the years, instead of just his money.

Or maybe a mom focuses so much on the cleanliness of her home, her kids’ advancement, and her reputation for being a “good mom” (or a “successful mom” or… What is it the kids are calling it these days? …a “trad mom”?)… that she fails to enjoy her children or motherhood much at all.

I’d like for us to consider today… the goal or goals of our work… our labors… our investments of time and effort as men and women?

Now, not all of us are in full-time paid employees (at a job of some sort), but all of us are working… we’re all laboring for something… really many somethings.

We’re working to manage our time and resources in the pursuit of various goals – we’re working to raise our kids, we’re laboring to establish and maintain our homes, we’re toiling to build up our nest egg, we’re striving to progress in our career, we’re working to manage the resources we’ve acquired over the years… we’re generally putting effort into being productive and orderly in our own lives and also to be a benefit to those around us.

Of course, if any of us are not working in such ways, then we ought to be. The Bible commands Christians to be diligent in their labors. And our work-ethic is one of the practical ways we bear witness to Christ. We aren’t just working for a paycheck. We’re laboring to serve our Lord. So, we’re hard-working and honest.

But one of the main questions I’m after today is: “What are we working for?” Are we working for mere worldly gains and pleasures, or are we laboring for more substantial rewards. As the “Preacher” of Ecclesiastes puts it in our passage today: “What has a man from all the toil and striving of the heart…?” (v22).

In other words, “What is to be gained from our work or labors?”

There is a way to work for nothing more than sorrow and vexation.

And there is another way to work as well – for the enjoyment of our toil… for the enjoyment of the fruit of our labor… ultimately, for the enjoyment of God Himself and the enjoyment of His good gifts to us through our toil.

Now, this may seem like an odd subject for us to consider on Resurrection Sunday. But I mean to show that this subject is not odd or disconnected at all.

In fact, the main quandary that comes up in our passage today is the problem of sin and death. And the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (in real human history) is the ultimate solution to this problem… even where sin and death touch upon the subject of “work” or “labor” or “toil” in this life.

Sin… and God’s curse because of sin… this is the reason we sometimes work or labor in ways that are detrimental to our joy – we may neglect other good things because of work, we may speak and act in sinful ways as we labor, and sometimes the good effort we give does not produce the good results we want.

These are the effects of sin and God’s curse in the world. Our affections and priorities are often disordered, and the “ground” itself does not always produce the good that it should… but “thorns and thistles” instead (Gen. 3:17-18). And God’s curse on the “ground” (in Gen. 3) is both literal and metaphorical.

So too, death (sooner or later) puts an end to whatever enjoyment we might have in good work – we may die before our labor pays off, and even if we do leave an inheritance for those who come after us, they may squander it in our absence.

The point is that Christ’s death and resurrection (the reason for it, the purpose in it, and the consequences of it) have reverberating effects in all of life… and today we’re connecting the dots between Christ’s resurrection and our work – the enjoyment of our toil despite the fact that we live in a fallen and sinful world.

Friends, today we are continuing our study through the book of Ecclesiastes. And this is a book all about life in the world as it is – life under the sun.

I pray that God will help us find real joy in our labors here and now, and that God will help us eagerly await that coming day when joy will be complete for all who believe and trust the Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture Reading

Ecclesiastes 2:18–26 (ESV)

18 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, 19 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.

20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 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.

22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 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.

24 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, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

26 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.

Main Idea:

Work for mere worldly gain and pleasure will lead to sorrow and despair, but there is real enjoyment in good work as God gives it to those who please Him.

Outline:

TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc226202631 \h 1

Scripture Reading PAGEREF _Toc226202632 \h 4

Ecclesiastes 2:18–26 (ESV) PAGEREF _Toc226202633 \h 4

Sermon Summary PAGEREF _Toc226202634 \h 5

Main Idea: PAGEREF _Toc226202635 \h 5

Outline: PAGEREF _Toc226202636 \h 5

Sermon PAGEREF _Toc226202637 \h 6

1. Leaving Everything (v18-21) PAGEREF _Toc226202638 \h 6

2. Laboring Restlessly (v22-23) PAGEREF _Toc226202639 \h 11

3. Laboring Joyfully (v24-26) PAGEREF _Toc226202640 \h 15

Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc226202641 \h 20

The Lord’s Supper PAGEREF _Toc226202642 \h 21

Partaking of the Supper PAGEREF _Toc226202643 \h 23

Sermon

1. Leaving Everything (v18-21)

There are three questions in our passage here, and I’d like to consider each one in turn. These questions… and the “Preacher’s” answers to them… are where I’m drawing out what I’m saying is the main idea for us today – “Work for mere worldly gain and pleasure will lead to sorrow and despair, but there is real enjoyment in good work as God give it to those who please Him.”

Our first question is there in the opening sentence of our passage – “I must leave it [i.e., all my toil] to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool?” (v18-19).

In other words, “When I die, I will leave everything behind, and what will happen to all I’ve accomplished?”

Pondering toil or work.

The “Preacher” has now moved away from considering the “gain” and “vanity” of “wisdom” (Ecc. 2:12-17), and he is turning to consider the “sorrows” and “joys” of “toil” or “labor” or “striving” (v18, 20, 22).

As I’ve tried to point out several times, Ecclesiastes makes an honest assessment of life under the sun, which includes both good and bad.

Here in our passage today, the focus is on the bad of “work” or “toil” until v24, and even at the end there’s a mixture of both good and bad.

(the point of v18-21) Death forces us to leave everything behind.

The “Preacher” says, “I must leave it [i.e., “all my toil”]” (v18).

And “sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything…” (v21).

Death and dying is the main vexation of the whole book of Ecclesiastes.

The “Preacher” grieves that the “wise dies just like the fool” (Ecc. 2:16).

He hates that the “children of man” die the “same” as “beasts” or animals (Ecc. 3:19).

And he is especially troubled that “death” and time have a way of erasing everyone from memory (Ecc. 9:5).

Friends, it’s important (I think) to note here that the Bible never speaks of death as a good feature of life.

Death is not good!

Death was not a feature of God’s good creation in the beginning.

Death entered into creation through sin, and it has become a common experience for man under the sun… but we are right to recoil at death, to lament it, and to think that death is not good.

This is the reason why Christ’s own death and resurrection are such good news for people like us!

There is One who has conquered death, and He’s promised to give life (everlasting life… life with no more death) to all who believe or trust Him for it.

Not only must we leave everything behind, but we also have no control over what becomes of our “work” or “labor” or “toil” after we die.

And this is what the “Preacher” says is “vanity” and “a great evil.”

The one who comes “after” and receives “all” the “toil in which [the “Preacher”] toiled under the sun” will be “master of all for which [he] toiled and used [his] wisdom” (Ecc. 2:18-19).

“This,” he says, “also is vanity” (v19).

So, the “Preacher” “gave [his] heart up to despair over all the toil of [his] labors” because “sometimes a person… must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it” (Ecc. 2:20-21).

“This,” he says, “also is vanity and a great evil” (v21).

And the reason for his “despair” is that he does not know “whether” the one who “comes after” will be “wise or a fool” (v18-19).

In other words, death takes away any semblance of our control over what we’ve worked hard to achieve.

Friends, what a precarious thing it is (in a fallen world) to strive to leave an inheritance behind… or to labor for a legacy.

On the one hand, the Proverbs teach us that “a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children” (Prov. 13:22).

What a blessing it can be for a man’s children and grandchildren to benefit from his life’s labors!

But if we only think of “an inheritance” as money or land or material goods, then what good is it if our children are fools?

What a curse it can be for a man’s children and grandchildren to squander his life’s labors… or worse to be enabled to greater sin and shame because of them!

It is far better for us to leave behind a good name, a wise example, and a reputation for faithfulness and diligence… than just money.

Just a quick aside here (no explicit command from Scripture, but what I think is a wise application of biblical principles):

Isn’t it a better use of our resources to help our children (and other people too, if we’re able) with such things while we’re still alive?

While we’re still alive, we can help our kids and grandkids learn to manage money by giving them a little bit at a time and working with them to spend and invest it well.

While we’re alive (and if we have the resources to do it), we can help our adult children get into a house, help them get an education or start a business, selectively help them out of unwise debt (if they outspend themselves), or help them begin investing for their future.

While we’re alive, we can spend a bit of our surplus cash (if we have any) on experiences we can enjoy with our kids/grandkids.

And thinking outside of our own immediate family… while we’re still alive, we can put some of our resources to good use for investing in a local church, for building institutions for the good of our community, or for helping fellow Christians in financial need.

It is certainly unwise to spend or give away what we need for ourselves… but wouldn’t it be great to die after spending as much as we’re able in life on doing good… for our own joy and for the joy and benefit of others?!

Friends, if we’re only working for worldly gain and pleasure, then we are sure to experience sorrow and despair… because we can’t take it with us… and because we can’t control what happens to what we’ve achieved when we’re gone.

One thing we can know for sure is that one day (sooner or later) we will leave everything behind… and we won’t have any control over what happens then.

Therefore, it is better to find enjoyment in our labor… and the fruit of it… while we’re still living in this world under the sun.

2. Laboring Restlessly (v22-23)

The second question in our passage shows up in v22 – “What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?” (Ecc. 2:22). In other words, “What gain is there in all this work we might do?”

As I said already, the “Preacher” here is still focusing on the bad way of working and bad results of it. And the answer we see (in v23) to the question (of v22) is that the “gain” (or what a man “has”) from all his “toil” or “work” is “sorrow” and “vexation” and “restlessness” (v23).

Now, some of the retired folks among us may think, “Yes, that’s exactly what I experienced on my job, and that’s why I’m so glad to be retired.” But this isn’t what the “Preacher” is talking about here.

He’s not saying that “work is bad, so try to get out of doing it whenever you can.” He’s saying that there’s a bad way of working that produces only “sorrow” and “vexation” and “restlessness” (v23). This is “work” or “labor” that is only “vain” or “futile” or “empty” (v23).

This kind of work is focused only on worldly gain and pleasure… personal success, career advancement, growing our paycheck, building prestige, padding our lives with luxuries, growing an online following, dressing up our public persona. It sucks up all of our time and attention. It troubles us at night, and it jumps on us as soon as we wake in the morning.

Now, there are many ways in which this mindset about work might show up in our lives. Let me list 3 of them: ravaging work, ruinous work, and restless work.

Ravaging work

This is the kind of working or laboring that ravages or damages or destroys everything and everyone else in our lives.

Some of us may want to progress in our career, so we sacrifice our family, our health, and our relationships with godly friends.

Some of us may want to build a bigger house or have nicer stuff or take more expensive vacations, so we neglect the people we love and our other priorities in life in our efforts to have more.

Some of us want to portray ourselves online as more polished or more successful or more put-together than we really are, so we treat others as props in a play or extras in our life’s movie.

Some young adults among us may even put off marriage and family for the sake of early success.

Friends, I’m not saying that we should never make sacrifices to labor well in good work… but I am saying that we should count the cost.

If you’re prone to laziness, then get to work!

But if you’re more prone to let your efforts in work ravage everything else in life, then count the cost.

Ruinous work

This is the kind of working or laboring that ruins us in the doing of it.

Some of us may find our own personal worth in our ability to produce, to sell, or to get results… so we are elated when we’re doing well, but we’re on the verge of a breakdown when we’re not.

Some of us may work for a boss or a company that only wants to use us up until we’ve got nothing left… and then trade us out for the next poor sap… so we give and we run… until we hit the wall.

Friends, I’m not saying that we should always avoid spending ourselves to exhaustion in good work… but I am saying that we should not ruin ourselves for the sake of a paycheck or a pat on the back.

If you’re often making excuses to get out of hard work, then stop it… find some resolve, and get to work!

But if a good Christian brother or sister encourages you to slow down a bit, then don’t immediately dismiss their concern.

It may be that their perception is off, but it may just as well be true that you are ruining yourself.

Restless work

I’m drawing each of these from the “sorrow” and “vexation” of v23, but “restlessness” in “work” or “labor” is especially apparent there.

The “Preacher” says, “even in the night his heart does not rest” (Ecc. 2:23).

This is the kind of working or laboring that keeps us up at night and plagues our minds during the day.

What mother hasn’t lost sleep over the ways that her labors with her children have not seemed to produce the effects she wanted?

Some of us men have also tossed and turned with the anxieties of how our labors may not pay off like we want them to.

Friends, it is right for us to bear the burden of our labors, and it is good for us to desire a positive outcome, but it is self-destructive to think that we can carry the full weight of what will become of our good work.

We can only control the input, not the output, of our labors.

Ours is the joy of laboring, and the yield or result is in God’s hand.

And this is where we begin to drill down to the “Preacher’s” point in our passage today. “What has a man from all the toil… which he toils beneath the sun?” (Ecc. 2:22). Or, “What gain is there in all this work we might do?”

None at all if we’re only working for worldly gain and pleasure.

But there is good news for those who “work” or “labor” for something more. God is the one who ultimately gives enjoyment in our labors and in the fruit of them – “for apart from him who can eat or find enjoyment?” (v24).

3. Laboring Joyfully (v24-26)

This leads us to the third and final question in our passage today – “apart from him [i.e., the “God” who gives “enjoyment” in “toil” or “work”] who can eat or find enjoyment?” (v24).

Several times in the book of Ecclesiastes, the “Preacher” says, “There is nothing better…” (Ecc. 2:24, 3:12, 3:22, 8:15), and each time “joy” or “enjoyment” is what the “Preacher” says is of great “gain” or value.

Here in our passage today, the subject is “work” or “labor,” and the “Preacher” tells us that there is real “enjoyment” in it, IF God gives it as a gift.

So too, in these closing verses, the “Preacher” offers us two ways to “toil” to “gather” to “collect” to labor to build to spend our efforts in this life under the sun.

One way is to carry on as a “sinner” in our “toil” and “gathering” (v24-26).

The other way is to “please” God in our “toil,” and to “gather” what He gives us as a gift “from” His “hand” (v24-26).

Now, I’ve already talked a lot about the “vanity” of working only for worldly pleasure or gain (which is inevitably what the sinner is doing when he or she continues in unbelief and rebellion).

The sinner may indeed have more money, he or she may progress to a higher socio-economic status, and he or she may experience many luxuries in this life… but the sinner is only “striving after wind” (v26)… because (A) the pleasures of worldly gain are fleeting, and (B) because there will be no pleasure or joy for the sinner in the life to come – “to the sinner [God] has given the business of gathering and collecting” (v26), but not the gift of enjoying… not real or lasting enjoyment.

Friends, don’t waste your life chasing after fleeting pleasures, only to learn on the last day that even the possibility of pleasure or joy will be stripped away.

But let’s conclude our time together this morning by considering the “enjoyment” that God does give to those who “work” or “labor” to “please” Him and how we can be counted among that group.

First, how can we be counted among those who “please” God?

The phrase “one who pleases God” is literally translated “one who is good in God’s sight” (NASB, KJV).

But the fact is that none of us fit this description!

The Bible tells us that “none is righteous, no, not one… no one does good, not even one” (Rom. 3:10-12).

And we have lived our whole lives without loving God as we should (with all our heart and mind), serving Him as we ought (with all our devotion), or honoring Him as He’s due.

Thus, we are naturally (and apart from Christ) in the category of “sinner” (Ecc. 2:26).

BUT this is where the good news of the gospel comes in, and this is where sinners like us can celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ everyday… not just one Sunday a year!

The Bible also says that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

When Jesus died, He took upon Himself the condemnation that sinners deserve so that He might give to believing sinners the loving and gracious gift of God’s blessing.

And when Jesus arose from the grave on the third day, He demonstrated that God’s curse against sin and sinners was satisfied, and the blessings of God’s New Covenant are now accessible to any and all who will simply look to Christ.

Friends, if we want to be numbered among those who “please God” or those who are “good in God’s sight,” then the first thing we must do is admit that we are not good at all.

We must throw ourselves upon His mercy.

We must trust in the Savior God has sent to quench His wrath against us.

We must believe in the only Mediator between God and man – the crucified and resurrected and glorified Jesus Christ.

Friends, if we will turn from our sin and unbelief… and if we will trust or believe in Christ for the forgiveness of sins… then we (sinful as we are) can be counted among those who “please God” or are “good in His sight” …not because we are good ourselves, but because Christ has earned goodness for us and given it to us as a gracious gift.

As always, if you want to know more about this, then let’s talk after the service today.

But there’s another way we want to think about “pleasing” God or being “good in His sight” this morning… especially in our work.

Second, how can we “please” God in our work and find “enjoyment” in it?

Sinners or unbelievers can only work for worldly gain and pleasure… there is no transcendent or lasting or genuine gain for sinners in this life or in the life to come.

But those of us who love and trust and follow Christ… we who enjoy the pleasure of God’s face shining upon us… we can do our work in this world as worship, and we can enjoy both our labor and the fruit of it as a gift from God.

Brothers and sisters, we are to work heartily in the world, laboring not merely for a paycheck or for successful kids or for a house or for a retirement package or for the appearance of success… but laboring for the Lord… who sees all of our efforts and knows our toil… And He gives us enjoyment in it here and now… and a full reward in the life to come.

If we are laboring as worship (as our service to Christ), then we lose nothing when things don’t turn out like we’d hoped.

If we are toiling as faithful stewards of the skills, talents, and opportunities that God has given to us, then our reward is already gained in a job well done.

If we are receiving whatever returns God decides are good for us, then we can take pleasure in the fruit of our labors with joy and gratitude… knowing that all these are good gifts from our heavenly Father’s hand.

And if we know that whatever losses or negatives we experience in our labors will be restored and recovered (in multiples) in the life to come, then we can “eat and drink and find enjoyment in [our] toil” now… and we can endure the hard days with hope and joy, as we eagerly await God’s immeasurable gifts ahead for us.

Conclusion

Friends, what are you working for?

Are you focused only (or even primarily) on worldly gains and pleasures?

Or are you finding joy in your labors as you serve Christ in them?

Are you enjoying the opportunities God Himself is giving you to bear witness for Christ in your work well done?

And are you enduring the losses, the poor yields, the bad results with a hopeful mind set on the reward that is to come for all those who please God?

I’ve tried to highlight both the goods and bads of work or labor in our text this morning, and I’ve tried to point out that the gospel of Jesus Christ makes us able to turn away from focusing ultimately on the fleeting pleasures of this world and turn toward greater joy both now and in the world to come.

So, let’s be a people who labor differently than the non-Christians around us. Let’s love and labor well for the good of our families. Let’s work and invest for the good of our community. Let’s toil in all of life as our worship to the God who loves us and who gives us all the good gifts we enjoy. And let’s find real and lasting joy in service to Christ… who has made us pleasing to God and set us a place at His own table of inheritance.