The Purpose In Work

Intro:

Good morning!

Last week we looked at Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 and we talked about how we are born under the consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.

As a result of their decision, we are born separated from God and have a longing in our souls to be reunited with Him.

As we know, most of the time we don’t recognize that longing for what it is.

We just know that something is missing in our lives.

We find ourselves searching everywhere possible to find something or someone that will make us feel whole.

The author of Ecclesiastes also felt that longing and because of his inherited wealth, he was able to literally seek out the best of what the world had to offer.

He spent his days seeking both wisdom and pleasure.

What he keeps finding though, is that even after partaking in whatever he wanted, he found that all of is was temporary and as such he was never satisfied.

We can identify with that!

Especially in the middle of a stay at home order and you’re sick of Netflix!

Before beginning today, I want to let you all know that the text today is going to be talking about work.

Those of you that are not able to work right now has been on my heart this weekend as I’ve prepared for today.

I have been praying for you and I want you to know that because I don’t want there to be any perceived callousness on my part.

Today’s passage can apply to your job, or to just the work of keeping life moving forward.

It is my hope today that all of us gain a new perspective on what it means to work and a renewed sense of purpose in the work that we are called too.

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.

What is the purpose of our work?

To gain something for ourselves?

To get all the things done?

To store up things for later?

Just to pay bills?

In thinking about this passage and considering what it must have been like in the garden of Eden, I thought about my four older kids and their absolute love for green beans.

As many of you know, we used to have a massive garden, but while pregnant with Charlee and cancer, we were not able to garden for the last 4 years or so.

Prior to all of that, Bethany and the older four kids worked in the garden everyday and their aboslute favorite was green beans.

The kids love growing, picking, snapping, and ultimately eating them.

I know that those of you who don’t like vegatables or have kids that refused to eat them may find this hard to believe.

These beans were special though, they were planted, tended, watched with anticipation as they grew, harvested, cleaned, and snapped by the kids.

After all their hard work they got to enjoy these fresh, incredibly flavorful, beans.

If you are like me and grew up on canned green beans, you can’t even begin to imagine how much better fresh green beans are.

With all of that said, were the beans good enough for them to spend nearly everyday of the two months it takes for them to mature caring for them?

I would say probably not.

Mostly because I know that kids attention span isn’t that long.

Why, then, do they enjoy it so much?

I think it is because we were designed for it.

God created us to live and work in the garden.

Our job was to tend to and enjoy the fruit of it.

Bethany and I spent several evenings at her parents house this week (socially distanced) working on tilling up and planting a garden for them.

We did the same at our house about a week ago.

You know what, we love it.

Bethany will work in the garden all day, but nearly every evening after we get the kids in the bed, we go out and walk in the gardening looking at the growth that has happened.

This isn’t some kind of super spiritual “walking in the garden” kind of thing.

But I will say that there is a really interesting feeling of peace and satisfaction that comes from watching God make those plants grow.

Again, I think this is because we are wired for it.

Gardening is really hard work, but it is so satisfying.

Not just harvesting, but the whole process.

As I’ve thought through why we do this, it isn’t just for the harvest, it is because the whole process is good for us.

Our work is not simply a means to an end.

In our passage today, the author starts with despair because he has been working towards a goal and found that he again has found that it hasn’t filled what was missing.

Ecclesiastes 2:18–19 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.

As we have discussed at length so far, the author makes a point to often remind us of the temporariness of life.

Here again, he mentions it and brings with it the fact that we may work our entire lives to gain for ourselves all that this world has to offer, only to leave it for someone else to enjoy.

Many in our church, because of their age, may not even be thinking about these kinds of things yet.

If you aren’t there yet, you will be one day.

There are others of us that are thinking about the future, retirement, and what will be left when we are gone.

Regardless of where you find yourself on that spectrum, the fact remains, all of us will eventually need to think about those things.

The decision that we make today about how we work will have an impact on the quality of our lives both today and in the future.

My hope is that as we go through this passage today that the Spirit will define for you, what “quality” really means.

Our culture is obsessed with gaining stuff and making sure that we have earned and saved enough that we can retire early and “enjoy” life.

Like so many other things in our culture, this is such a sad trap.

It’s sad because we toil away now, wasting our time for a future hope that may never be realized.

I read this in one of my commentaries this week.

"People develop idolatrous expectations of life by ignoring or discounting death. Death is an inescapable message from God, and it is not good news. While this seems obvious, it is resisted. Many commonly attempt to escape the real implications of death by claiming that one’s work will be carried on or enjoyed by someone else, however, what happens after death is completely outside our control. “I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool?” (2: 18, 19). Solomon rejects all false hope, all idolatry that would evade the vaporous nature of life when it comes to man’s labor."- Ecclesiastes Through New Eyes: A Table in the Mist" by Jeffrey Meyers

He is pointing out that we make our legacy an idol.

We spend our lives working, building, and accumulating so that we will be remembered or so that someone else can pick up where we left off.

We made it an idol by making our work about ourselves only.

The author of that commentary goes on to say...

"What if we regarded our labors and the temporary fruits we sometimes enjoy from them not as a means of power, but rather as gracious gifts? Solomon reminds the believer that a man’s work is a gift from God (2: 24). As long as he does not attempt to misuse work, to transform his God-given activities into a means of leveraging God and his creation for his own purposes, he can rejoice." - Ecclesiastes Through New Eyes: A Table in the Mist" by Jeffrey Meyers

What if the work that God called us to was for the sake of the work?

What God has called us to is not only about what we will get from it, but it’s also about what it will do in us and in the lives of others.

God created us for working and tending His creation and when we can not only realize it, but can adjust our lives to enjoy what we are doing, we will experience satisfaction.

So here is the million-dollar question.

Are you leveraging your career/job for your own gain or for the sake of God?

Let’s get really personal for a moment.

Whether you are working right now, or not able to work, are you making this quarantine about you or about God?

The focus and purpose we give our work or rest will determine how we approach it.

If we are walking in obedience to God and abiding as we work or rest, we can be confident it will have a lasting effect.

Not because we did a really good job, but because God’s purposes are everlasting.

Ecclesiastes 2:20–23 ESV

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.

The preacher is in despair because he has come to the realization that all that he has worked for will be left to someone else.

All the wisdom he gained will die with him and all that he has earned will be enjoyed after he is gone.

He can pass it on to others, but He has no control over whether they live by that wisdom.

He can leave instructions on how his wealth is to be used, but again, powerless to enforce his wishes.

I am reminded of the song Take Over, by Shane and Shane.

The bridge has always stood out to me.

What am I supposed to do with all my kingdoms next to you You're the Lord, You're the Lord I could gain the world and more It's all nothing next to you My reward, my reward Take Over, Lover of my Soul Take Control I surrender, There's nothing I want more Than to know you, Lord

We have the option of being like the preacher and spending our lives building up our own kingdom, but we will find the same thing that he did, sorrow.

If we consider all the preacher has said about building up our kingdom and compare that to the richness of knowing Christ, we will see that there is far more to gain by abiding in Him.

The preacher goes on to encourage us to enjoy the simple gift of enjoying God.

We were created, not to hunger and thirst, but to be satisfied.

I think we sometimes decide that we were just meant to feel like we will never find fulfillment.

The enemy slips in and convinces us that this is all that there is to life.

Especially right now, while we are all staying home.

Look with me at the truth that the author gives us about our lives.

Ecclesiastes 2:24–26 ESV

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.

Did you notice here that God is pointing forward to Christ in this passage?

In verse 24 he says...

Nothing is better for a person than eating , drinking , and finding enjoyment in his toil.

If you look at this passage in your bible you will see a note in verse 24 that points to Ecc 9:7

Ecclesiastes 9:7 ESV

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

Eating bread and drinking wine, where have we heard that before?

Oh yeah, we took communion last week.

I love the combining of imagery here.

The preacher is showing us what we were created for.

We were created, by God, to be in a relationship with Him.

God created our bodies to require food and drink and then made us an incredible garden for us to live in so that all of our needs would be met.

After chasing all that the world had to offer, we come full circle.

The preacher is telling us that our greatest fulfillment is in enjoying bread and wine.

Are you seeing this?!

What we need to actually enjoy life is to eat and drink.

And then Jesus shows up and says that He is the bread of life!

John 6:22–40 ESV

22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

God will provide all that we need.

I’m not gonna lie to you, I was literally brought to tears when I read this during prep.

I don’t know where you are spiritually or emotionally right now, but let me say this.

If you are struggling, God wants you to know that he is with you.

Whatever you need, He can satisfy.

John 6:27 ESV

27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

Jesus and the preacher are saying the same thing.

Our hope, our satisfaction, our very life is NOT found in what we do or don’t do.

All of those things are found in what the father has provided, is providing, and will continue to provide!

Apart from God, we have nothing, but with God, we have all that we need!

What an incredible message for our broken world!

Glen has done an awesome job of reminding us to daily pursue the Lord.

If you are struggling with that, please, understand that it isn’t a task to be completed.

God desires you.

He wants to spend time with you.

He created you because He loves you.

Run to Him.

Allow the creator to love you as only He can.

We can try to find fulfillment in social media, new recipes, creative activities, but all of that will leave us empty and wanting more.

God has provided what we need through the death and resurrection of His son.

Jesus is the bread of life.

God provided all that Adam and Eve would need in the garden.

He provided mana for Israel.

He provided loaves and fish for those that were hungry.

If we will seek Him, we will never hunger or thirst again because He will provide for our every need!