Eccl 3_9-15
(Q) Are you are hard worker? If so, why are you a hard worker?
· For most of the world it’s to get ahead in life. People are seeking material comfort for themselves and their family.
· Some work hard to gain the recognition and approval of their peers.
· Others labour so one day they can take it easy. (ILL) Like the man in Luke 12:16-19 (READ)
Solomon asks a question in Ecclesiastes 3:9 that you might have asked yourself at some point. 9 What gain has the worker from his toil?
Remember that this is a man who is examining life from a human perspective. Solomon is only thinking about life under the sun. Life in the here and now. From that view point, work brings very little gain.
· It might feed your body but it cannot satisfy your soul.
· You can work hard and amass a small fortune but you end up leaving it all behind.
· Your wealth might impress people here on earth but in heaven, gold is just used to pave the roads.
I’m sure you are getting used to Solomon’s style by this point. After making a declaration or asking a hard question he tries to use his own mind to get some answers. Only when he doesn’t find any satisfactory answers does he finally look towards heaven.
We can see this with this issue of work. In verse 9 Solomon repeats a question he first raised back in 1:3 he said What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
He leaves the question hanging there until 2:18-23 where he tries to figure things out on his own. The only conclusion he can come to is found in 2:23 work is a vexation.
But then he begins to look towards heaven in chapter 2:24-25. (READ)
It’s beginning to dawn on Solomon that life doesn’t make sense if you leave God out.
It’s God’s sovereignty over life that gives meaning and purpose to pain and joy, relaxation and work. Remember God’s sovereignty is his right and ability to rule over all of life.
· Last week you saw that God sovereignly appoints the times of your lives. He set the time of your birth and He knows the time of your death. He appoints everything in between those days as well.
· He also sends or allows circumstances into your life that He deems appropriate for your good and His glory. Life is not a random series of events. It is the unfolding of God’s good purposes.
(ILL) The Lord is like the loving father who decides when His children need protection and when they need a challenge. And like a good child we should respond properly to our Heavenly Father’s care over us.
I need to add here that if you have not put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ then you are not a child of God yet. John 1:12 reads to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
If you have not received Christ hearing about God’s sovereignty might make you angry or it brings up rebellion in your heart. God was speaking about you in Ezekiel 20:21 They rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules,
You might have entered this building this morning as a rebel but let me tell you that you can leave as a child of God. Even as you sit there God can remove your heart of stone and replace it with a heart that delights in His sovereignty over your life.
As we look at 3:10-14 we can see how a child of God should respond to His sovereignty. (READ)
I. First off a child of God acknowledges God’s sovereignty. vs. 10-11
A. Solomon acknowledges that God is ultimately in charge of what man does.
10I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
While Solomon acknowledges that our work comes from God he doesn’t quite have a positive view of work. In the Hebrew Solomon is literally saying I have seen the business that God has afflicted on the children of man.
I’m sure you have felt like that at times. Work was never meant to be easy but the fact that it is God-given ought to help us see it in a positive light.
B. Solomon does acknowledge that what God does is right. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. The word beautiful has the idea of being appropriate. Work is hard, but God gives it because it is just what we need.
Matthew Henry said: God gives [work] to men, as the physician gives a medicine to his patient, to do him good.
And a lot of good comes from work. It provides for our physical needs, it keeps our bodies healthy. It improves our minds and most of all it gives us a way to glorify our heavenly Father.
C. We would like to understand all God’s purposes for our labours but we have to acknowledge that only He has the full picture.
v. 11 Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart.
(ILL) Monkeys don’t sit around wondering what life is all about. They eat, defend their territory and sleep.
Man has a sense that what we do has some eternal significance. Somewhere deep down we know there is more to life than just punching a time clock. We want to know there is some lasting purpose in what we do.
While man has this desire to see the big picture he can’t always do it. 11 yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
We know more about God’s purposes than Solomon because we have the whole Bible but God has set limits on what man can know.
(ILL) God is like an artist who has unveiled a small corner of His greatest work but not the whole painting. What people see is so compelling that they long to see the whole picture but they cannot.
You can feel the Solomon’s frustration as he writes this. He is a man who wanted answers but God did not grant them.
Why does God do this? Dr. Jim Berg makes a good point. He said Mystery leads to dependency. If we had all the answers we would feel we didn’t need God.
There will be times in our life when we have to say. I don’t know why I have to do this task but God has given to me and I will do it well because I know He has given it to me for a good reason. It will do me good and bring glory to Him.
II. A child of God acknowledges God’s sovereignty and verses 12-13 tell us to rejoice in God’s sovereignty. vs. 12-13
12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
As Christians we don’t just tolerate or resign ourselves to work. Solomon says we can be joyful and take pleasure in it.
(Q) Is this the picture your teacher or boss has of you? Do they see a joyful student or an employee who is obviously getting pleasure from what they are doing?
It would certainly be a powerful testimony to those around you.
It’s also a testimony of God’s grace in your life. The work has been given to you by God but so is the grace to really enjoy it. That is what that phrase at the end of verse 13 is saying. This enjoyment is God’s gift to man.
I was thinking that we ought to encourage each other in adopting this attitude towards work. Moaning and complaining is popular but if we truly grasp God’s sovereignty in our life then we will rejoice in that He has given us to do and take pleasure in it.
III. I believe this joy will come as you Submit to God’s Sovereignty v. 12b-14
A. Submitting to God means obeying Him 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;
The best proof that you are submitting to God’s sovereignty is when you are happy doing the good things God has called you to do.
Children that means obeying your parents. Employees that means working the same whether your boss is watching you or not. Students; that means you do your homework joyfully as unto the Lord. Mothers; that means you consider it a joy to serve your family.
B. It also means Accepting God’s Sovereignty- 14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it.
This is another way of saying Thy will be done! It’s accepting that God’s ways are best even though they may cause you some pain. The opposite of accepting God’s will is to complain and rebel.
(ILL) God may bring you through a time when money is in short supply. You have a number of choices how you can react to this.
· You can complain.
· You can engage in some shady practice in order to increase your income.
· Or you can accept what God is doing and be joyful even as you eat beans for the third day in a row.
Accepting God’s sovereignty is not non action.
· If a difficulty like sickness comes into your life you can go see the doctor and take the medicine.
· If you lose your job go out and look for another.
· If you don’t seem suited to the single life, seek a husband or a wife.
Accepting God’s sovereignty means you will do what He allows you to do in those situations but then you leave the results with Him. It also means you will maintain a right attitude towards the Lord no matter what He sends your way.
This is what David said in Ps 119:75 I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. He remembered God’s goodness even in the midst of trials.
C. Finally submitting to God’s sovereignty means recognising God’s purposes in all things.
One of those purposes is given at the end of verse 14 God has done it, so that people fear before him.
When people live a life of ease and comfort they usually have little time for the Lord. An eternal rest does not sound that exciting to them. God had to warn His people in Deuteronomy 8:6-14 (READ)
They had no difficulties remembering the Lord when times were tough and sometimes it is like that with us as well. God knows that when He allows trials to come into your life you are more prone to look to Him for help.
God always has a reason for what He sends in our life. Solomon’s father David could see this. He said in Psalm 119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.
In the New Testament we are told by James: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Peter said in 1 Peter 1: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The world will marvel when they see you reacting this way to trails. To the world difficulties just happen without a reason.
When you are resting in the fact that God has a purpose for everything that He allows into your life you’re communicating that there is a God and that He knows what He is doing.
This side of heaven you won’t know all the reasons why God did such and such but He has revealed enough of His purposes to comfort us in our times of affliction.
We can know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
How does the child of God respond to His sovereignty?
First by acknowledging it. Let it become a bedrock of your thinking. Throw out any notions of luck or chance.
Once you acknowledge God’s sovereignty then rejoice in it. Rejoice that God is personally overseeing the events in your life. Your job becomes the job God gave you. Your family becomes the people God has entrusted to you. You can even rejoice in the hard times because you know the Lord is using them to do you good.
Then submit to God’s sovereignty. Don’t fight against the Lord by disobeying His commands. Accept what He sends your way because you recognise that He has a good purpose in it.
(ILL) I struggled with a toothache all week. Because of the pain I also struggled with this passage all week. More than once I had to stop and say to myself God has allowed this for a good reason. Accepting this from the Lord didn’t stop me from taking medicine but it did keep me from getting angry or questioning God’s goodness.
It may be that God has allowed this situation so a dentist in Enniskillen can come in contact with Christians. I don’t know all the reasons but I do know that God is sovereign and that He does all things well.
My hope is that you will be convinced of this as well.
Let’s pray!
