Sermon Transcript May 7, 2017 Ecclesiastes: Getting the Most Out of Life Making Sense of Work Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:16 This message from the Bible was addressed originally to the people of Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church on May 7, 2017 at 511 Maple Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109 by Dr. Scott W. Solberg. This is a transcription that bears the strength and weaknesses of oral delivery. It is not meant to be a polished essay. An audio copy of the sermon on CD is available by request at (860) 563-8286. An audio version of this sermon may also be found on the church website at www.wethefc.com. 1
Sermon Text Ecclesiasts 3:16-22 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. 17 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. 18 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. 19 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, 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 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? Ecclesiastes 4:1-16 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. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. 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. 5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. 6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. 7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure? This also is vanity and an unhappy business. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him a threefold cord is not quickly broken. 13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom 2
he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king's place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice. Introduction One of the books we used to read to our children when they were young was the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? It was a book designed to teach children the various colors and it had a certain cadence about it that made it fun to read. Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me. Red bird, red bird, what do you see? I see a yellow duck looking at me. Yellow duck, yellow duck, what do you see? I see a blue horse looking at me. On and on it would go until you came to the climax of the book, Children, children, what do you see? We see a brown bear, a red bird, a yellow duck (rehearsing everything identified in the book).... looking at us! I couldn t help but think of this children s book while preparing for the sermon this week. Five times in our passage this morning we hear Qohelet, the Preacher, say I saw. He is looking around at the world we live in and he is telling us what he sees. In Ecclesiastes 3:16 he says, Moreover, I saw... In Ecclesiastes 4:1 we hear him say, Again, I saw... Then in Ecclesiastes 4:4 he says, Then, I saw... In Ecclesiastes 4:7 he adds, Again, I saw... And, finally, we hear him say in Ecclesiastes 4:15, for the final time in the passage, I saw... Consequently, for the better part of the week, with a similar cadence, I have been hearing in the back of my mind this question being asked, Qohelet, Qohelet, what do you see? When you take these five things that he sees and observes in our world and put them together, I think he is saying something like this; I see a world where everything is about me. It is this inward focus on ourselves that is likened to chasing after the wind. It is hevel. I would like to make one observation about our passage before we take a look at the five things Qohelet sees when he takes a look at the world. It is curious to me that the context where this self focused view of life is observed in this passage is primarily in the context of our work. We see this context exposed right in the heart of our passage this morning. In Ecclesiastes 4:4 he says, Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from man s envy of his neighbor. Work is not the evil in the passage. Rather, the evil in this verse is the selfish motive behind the work. It is envy and self-advancement that is the evil motive identified in this passage. In fact, at the end of Ecclesiastes 3 we will hear for the third time already in the book of Ecclesiastes, So I saw that there is nothing 3
better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. In other words, work is not a four-lettered word. The problem is not with work. The problem is that my brokenness is brought into the context of my work and it contributes to the brokenness of our world. And so much of our focus this morning will be on how we as God s people should approach our work while we work in such a broken and competitive and individualistic world. Two years ago, I did a sermon series on Work and Faith: How does Sunday, impact Monday to Friday? By way of review, it would be helpful if we can put work into the framework of a biblical worldview. So the first thing you need to know about work is that work itself is sacred and good and we were created to work. Ben Witherington observed from the story of creation, It is perfectly clear that God s good plan always included human beings working. 1 In fact, I love how Tim Keller puts it, Work is as much a basic human need as food, beauty, rest, friendship, prayer, and sexuality; it is not simply medicine but food for our soul. 2 And then he adds, it is one of the few things we can take in significant doses without harm. 3 The Bible doesn t say, work one day and rest the other six. Nor does it look for a 50/50 balance between the two. Rather, we are to work six days and then rest one day. And so when Qohelet says in Ecclesiastes that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work it is not a statement of futility. He is not throwing up his hands as if to say, you might as well try to find some purpose and enjoyment out of all this hevel. Rather, this is what we were created to do and our work is a sacred task. But the Fall of Man, as described in Genesis 3 as man s rebellion against God, has had an adverse impact on work. The consequence of our rebellion against God is not just that we die, but there is now brokenness in our relationships and what it takes to put food on the table has become a chore. God said to Adam in Genesis 3:17-18, cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. Tim Keller, reflecting on the curse for our rebellion spelled out in Genesis 3, says, It could not be more relevant and practical to life today. It goes for the jugular, as if to say, Do you find the two greatest tasks in life love and work to be excruciatingly hard? 4 That is exactly what Qohelet sees when he makes these five observations about life in our passage this morning. Life in this world is hard. And so, as the people of God, who are being renewed by faith in Jesus, we are not immune to the effects of a broken world and the challenges we face in our work. But at the same time, we can bring good into this challenging reality. Robert Bellah in his book Habits of the Heart suggests that one way we can make a difference in this broken world 4
is how we view work. He said that we need to see our work as a contribution to the good of all and not merely as a means to one s own advancement. 5 This adjustment in focus is very close to the wisdom given to the people of God in our passage this morning. As we take a look at the brokenness that Qohelet sees in the world we live, he also sheds wisdom and insight in how we ought to work in such a broken world. Qohelet, Qohelet, What do you see? We will begin by just taking a look at what Qohelet sees when he looks around and takes in the things of life. As we rattle off this list, one by one, clearly you will be forced to agree with what we read in Ecclesiastes 1:9, there is nothing new under the sun. I see wickedness: He begins by saying in 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. The first thing he sees is wickedness. And it is not a smattering of wickedness here and smattering of wickedness there that he sees. Rather, it is a wickedness that pervades all of society and all the systems of society. See he finds this wickedness on display in the last place you would expect to find it. He says that he sees this wickedness on display in the courtroom, the place of justice. This is the place where we depend on our systems to be able to weigh what is right and what is wrong. But by repeating the phrase even there was wickedness he was emphasizing the pervasive nature of this basic condition of man found everywhere we go. Later, in Ecclesiastes 5:8 he says, If you see... the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter. The reason we have broken systems in our world is because these systems the place of justice, or your place of work is filled with broken people. Really, our problem is pride. C. S. Lewis says, Now what I want you to get clear is that pride is essentially competitive is competitive by its very nature... Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only having more of it than the next man. We say people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. 6 It is this pride that lives in our hearts that leads us to taking ethical shortcuts and oppressing those who get in our way. And if we are honest about ourselves, we all fall prey to motives of self-interest, fear, and glory seeking. In fact Tim Keller warns us not to point the finger at the big bad world without seeing our own pride by saying, The DNA of self-centeredness and competitive pride are at work deep in each of us. 7 And we all bring this motive along with us to work, in our lunch box, our brief case, our backpack, our computer... it is pervasive. 5
Now before we look at the next thing Qohelet sees, I do want to make a comment about the end of Ecclesiastes 3. Here he compares man to animals. The implication is that as our pride takes root in our hearts, we often act like animals, those without a conscience. The irony in all of this is that in some degree we are like the animals. Just like the animals, we will return to the dust. But when he says in verse 21, Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth he is not giving us a definitive theology on life beyond the grave. We know from Scripture that there is an afterlife that awaits us. Some will be raised to eternal life in the last day and others to eternal judgment. But his observation is being made from the vantage point of life lived under the sun. In spite of all the pride of man displayed throughout this world, at the end of the day we are mortal and we will return to the dust. These words are designed to have a humbling effect on us before God and our fellow man. I see oppression: The second thing that Qohelet sees in this world is oppression. He writes in Ecclesiastes 4:1, 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. This verse pits those with power against those without power. Oppression is nothing more than the abuse of power. Ian Provan defines oppression this way, Oppression is accumulation the seeking after profit without regard to the nature, needs and rights of other people. 8 The Bible often warns against such abuse that takes advantage of the helpless. In Proverbs 14:31 it says, He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. You can hear the anguish of the oppressed in this passage when it refers to the tears of the oppressed. With this phrase, you can picture someone who cries himself or herself to sleep. The helpless plight of the oppressed is captured in the repeated phrase, no one to comfort them. In fact, Qohelet concludes that for some the suffering is so bad it would have been better had they never been born. Job said the same thing about his suffering in Job 3, May the day of my birth perish... Why did I not perish at birth? And of course, we would respond by saying, all life is of value. But we cannot deny that many in this world live on the side of being oppressed. The poor, women, children, those enslaved, oppressive governments... and even jobs where the worker is taken advantage of and has few options to rise above. Qohelet looks around and says, this is what I see. I see oppression. Let us make sure we don t turn a blind eye to it. I see envy: The next thing he sees is the motive of man s heart when it comes to his work. He says in Ecclesiastes 4:4, Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a 6
man s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. In our culture, the word vocation is just another word for job. It simply describes what you do for a living. But the Latin word from which we get the word vocation means a calling. The only way you will see your job as a calling is if you refocus your view of your job and see it as a mission of service to something beyond merely your own interests. 9 But according to what Qohelet sees in the world, the interest of others is not what drives us to work. It is our own self advancement and gain that drives us. William Brown puts it this way, Envy inspires competition and thus twists the noble sense of vocation into an exercise in rivalry, into an upward and onward quest for dominance, leading even to violence. The envy of another flies in the face of the great commandment found in Leviticus and on the lips of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself. 10 Our jobs need to be more than just a vehicle for self advancement. Unfortunately, Ray Stedman concludes, the drive to be admired is the true objective of many lives. 11 But this too is hevel, and in the end it is like chasing the wind. I see loneliness: The next thing Qohelet sees is the byproduct of the envy that drives us. It is loneliness. The natural outcome of envy is that it isolates us. He says starting in verse 7, Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure? This is a picture of a person who is pursuing riches and self-advancement at the cost of relationships. That phrase, he has no other literally means he has no second. There is no one no son or brother to share the benefits of his labor. This person is alone without family or friend and is driven to accumulate possessions for himself. When he asks For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure? he discovers the emptiness that is found when the pursuit of riches comes at the expense of relationship. In the end, he is alone. I see misplaced hope: The final thing Qohelet sees as he looks around is that he sees limits to success. In the end, success does not satisfy or last. He speaks of the rise of success that comes to the one who starts out with humble means and ends up being king. You can t get any higher in this world than king. You can read of this man s success in verse 15-16, I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king's place. There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. It is quite an impressive picture of going from rags to riches. This person achieved the pinnacle of success. And I don t necessarily think that Qohelet is saying that this rise to success is an evil to be avoided. In fact, some think he is referring to Joseph who went from prison to second in the land of Egypt. But what he is saying 7
here is that this too shall pass. He ends by saying, Yet those who come later will not rejoice. In other words, all the success in the world still has a shelf life. If success is your hope in life, then it is a misplaced hope. Those who come after us will not remember us. Very few of us will get a monument made in our likeness or our names etched in Hollywood s Walk of Fame. But even that has a shelf life. I was struck by the illustration of Antonio Salieri in the play Amadeus. He was an aspiring musician who longed to be as successful as Mozart. The only problem was that he was not as talented as Mozart. He even prayed that he would have the talent of Mozart so that he could bring glory to God through his music, but his prayers were not answered and he became bitter. He prayed, Lord, make me a great composer! Let me celebrate your glory through music and be celebrated myself!! Make me famous through the world, dear God! Make me immortal! After I die, let people speak my name forever with love for what I wrote. 12 That really is the misplaced ambition that governs all this evil Qohelet sees under the sun. We want to make a name for ourselves and this leads to wickedness, oppression, envy, loneliness and misplaced hope. And so we are left to ask this question. How should God s people live and work in a world filled with wickedness, oppression, envy, loneliness and misplaced ambition and hope? Qohelet has some words of wisdom for us to live by in this passage. How Then Should we Live? When you take in all that Qohelet sees, it can be overwhelming. But this is the world we live in and it is also the very things we wrestle with in our own hearts. These misplaced motives are things we always have to keep a check on and they keep bringing us back to Jesus, where we find grace and mercy. Nonetheless, in this passage there are several things that can guide us as we seek to live as God s people in this broken world and in the places where we work. In fact, lets keeps in mind that the evil here is not work. Rather, it is the motives that live in us and how we use work to serve those motives. So let me offer you three things to keep in mind for Monday to Friday. Find joy in your work: Clearly, Qohelet can t seem to say this enough. Only three chapters into the book, and for the third time we hear him say, So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. In order to find joy in your work, you need to see it as a way to serve God and to serve others. It is not just there to provide an income for you. Rather, it is a sacred calling and an opportunity to partner with what God is doing in the world. 8
I like the application Tim Keller gives on work from Ecclesiastes. These three things really help us find joy in our work. First of all, if you have the luxury to choose the kind of work you do, choose something you do well. That is being a good steward with the gifts God has given you. Secondly, choose work that benefits others. You may even need to pause and define how your work is of benefit to others. Once you define that for yourself, make that a motive for why you work. And then he says that we are to give ourselves to our work in a way that benefits the work. Sometimes when you do things to benefit others, ironically, that too can be self serving. So he suggests you go to the next level and do what you can to advance your field of work for the benefit of those who follow you. Dorothy Sayers made this point when she said that the business of the worker is to the serve the work. 13 Live Quiet Lives: The second think we hear Qohelet say in light of the world we live in is that at the end of the day, we ought to be content with what we have and strive to live quiet lives. There is an interesting proverb found in Ecclesiastes 4:5-6. It is a proverb that suggests that there are three different kinds of reactions you have to living in this world filled with wickedness, oppression, envy, loneliness and misplaced hope. The proverb reads like this, The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. The first reaction is the reaction of the fool. He folds his hands and eats his own flesh. A person who folds his hands can t work and so his reaction to all the trouble in this world is to just drop out and not work. The result is poverty, which is graphically described as eats his own flesh since there is nothing else to eat. He starves. A second reaction is throw yourself into work and with two hands grab all you can for yourself. It is like the kid who reaches into the candy jar with two hands and tries to take as much as he can for himself. But as we have already seen, this is striving after the wind. This is hevel because in the end, it does not last. The third option is a handful of quietness. The idea here is that with one hand you hold what you need and with the other hand you have peace and quiet. It is a picture of simply being content with what you have. You are not being driven by accumulating more and more for yourself. Instead, you are content with what God gives you and you simply strive to live a quiet and a peaceful life. Ultimately, this peace comes from God and seeking first the kingdom of God. When you put it back in the context of work, we are reminded of the pattern of work and rest, work and worship. Just doing what you are doing right now, is putting limits on work and reminding yourself of what is most 9
Conclusion important in life. It is God! So strive to know God and to serve God. When you do, you will find peace and contentment in the other areas of your life. Pursue Community: The final thing that I see Qohelet teaching us is found in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Basically, he is saying here, Two are better than one. This is on the heels of observing that when envy is driving us to accumulate for ourselves it isolates us. And so we saw the one who has no other - that is, no second. In other words, the quest for more has removed him from relationship. And so the instruction here is that we are better together than we are alone. He says a threefold cord is not quickly broken. So even in our work, we ought to value relationship and cooperate for the good of the whole. Don t go it alone. Where you can work together, do so. Where you can use your work to benefit others, do so. Where you can limit work for the benefit of taking time for others, do so. He says that when you work together, there is a good return. When you are in trouble, there is someone to help. When you are in need, companionship is a blessing. When you stand together, it is harder to fall. Don t lose sight of people and the value of people. Press in on community and relationship. It is out of our relationship with God and our love for God that we are able to love others. When we realize that through God s grace in Jesus, God has moved towards us so that we might have relationship with him, we are motivated to move with grace to others that they might have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and the Son. A relationship with God through Jesus will move us towards others, in the church and in the workplace. Qohelet, Qohelet, what do you see? I see a way for God s people to live that can counter the self-centered way of our world. Find joy in your work by serving others and serving the work. Be content with what you have and live a quiet life. Pursue community and relationship in all you do. In this you will be salt and light in a world that needs to see Jesus in the way we live. 10
1 Ben Witherington Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011) 2 2 Tim Keller Every Good Endeavor : Connecting Your Work to God s Work (New York: Dutton, 2012) 36 3 Ibid., 37 4 Ibid., 88 5 Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M Sullivan, Ann Swidler and Stephen M. Tipton Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (Berkley: University of California Press, 1985) 287-288 6 C. S. Lewis Mere Christianity (San Francisco: Harper, 2001) 122 7 Keller, 117 8 Iain Provan Ecclesiastes/Song of Solomon: The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001) 103 9 Keller, 19 10 William P. Brown Ecclesiastes (Louisville: John Knox, 2000) 49 11 Ray Stedman Is This All There Is to Life? (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1999) 56 12 Peter Shaffer Amadeus, The Daily Script www.dailyscript.com 13 Keller, 109-110 by Dr. Scott Solberg - All rights reserved 11
Sermon Title: Making Sense of Work Sermon Text: Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:16 Sermon Date: May 7, 2017 Getting To Know Me Questions 1. What was the first job you ever had? What do you remember about it? What did you learn about work from this job? 2. How do you find joy in what you do? What tends to rob you of joy in what you do? 3. Share something from the sermon that stood out to you or caught your attention. Diving Into The Word 4. Read Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:6. Take special note of the three things Qohelet saw (3:16; 4:1, 4:4). How are these three things connected? How do you see the motive of envy at work in the world? How do you see the motive of envy at work in your own heart? 5. Read Ecclesiastes 3:22 and 4:5-6. What words of wisdom do you find in these passages that help you approach your Monday to Friday? 6. Read Ecclesiastes 4:7-16. Take special note of the two things Qohelet saw (4:7-8, 14-16) How do you see these two things at play in the workplace? 7. Read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. What words of wisdom do you find in this passage? What benefit do we gain from community? How can you be conscious of investing in relationship in your daily activity? Taking It Home 8. What word of wisdom are you taking from this passage into your Monday to Friday? 9. What prayer request do you have regarding your work or stage of life? 12