WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Okay, I'd like to go back to... 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:12.000 Well, we'll be dipping into the passage we read together, but we'll also be 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:18.000 just picking out some other verses from this book. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:23.000 I love Ecclesiastes. It's a really great book. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:31.000 It's very realistic. It's quite often confusing. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:39.000 It's quirky. It's provocative. It's insightful. It's mysterious. It's frustrating. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:46.000 And I believe it's all... It's meant to be all these things as part of God's Word. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:52.000 And why do I say that? Well, because for one thing, God is complex, okay? 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:58.000 God is really complex. I think very often we confuse the simplicity of trusting in God, 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.000 putting our faith in God, which is a simple thing in many ways, 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:08.000 with God Himself and making God simple and easy to understand. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:14.000 We systematize Him. We want to control Him so that we know everything about Him. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.000 We want to know everything black and white with God. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:23.000 And I think sometimes that troubles us when we think about life 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:27.000 and when we think about the complexity of life. 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.000 And we need to remember that God is infinite. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.000 God is all-seeing. He's all-knowing. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:39.000 Every thought that every person has ever thought in their minds is known to God. 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:46.000 He's sovereign over this world. He is a God who is, by definition, love, 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:50.000 who is just, who is sinless. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.000 He's a God who's made up of three persons. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.000 You know, the complexity of that is so great that, you know, 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:02.000 theologians have made up a word about it that's not even in the Bible 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.000 to try and explain it, the Trinity. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:11.000 He's one God, but three persons equal in power and glory. 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:17.000 And this God, the Son, becomes man to make Him even more complex 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.000 with a divine and a human nature. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.000 Sinless man who then went to die in a cross. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:29.000 He is complex. Our God is a complex God. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.000 And we are made in His image. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.000 Man and woman in the image of God. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.000 And that makes us complex. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.000 And then we rebelled against God. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:48.000 So that image, with all its complexity, becomes even more confused. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.000 So that sin and a broken relationship with God, 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:55.000 which Thomas was speaking about this morning, 00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:02.000 makes for a messy, ugly and complex world. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:08.000 And Ecclesiastes picks up on all of that when we read through it. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:13.000 And you know that the recurring theme throughout Ecclesiastes is life under the sun, 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.000 you know, the meaninglessness of life under the sun. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:21.000 Now a lot of commentators take the sections that deal with life under the sun 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:29.000 as dealing exclusively with an attitude where God is taken out of the picture 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:35.000 and it explains what life is, the meaninglessness of life without God in the picture. 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.000 And it does do that, but it's not exclusively that, 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:43.000 because throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, life under the sun 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:48.000 explains or speaks about life without God, 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.000 but it also speaks about life with God having that same, 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:59.000 or at least a degree of complexity and seemingly meaningless. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.000 See, he speaks about life without God under the sun, 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:09.000 and you know that teacher takes the place of the person trying to find meaning without God. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:13.000 And we've seen some of the themes of that already, 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:17.000 trying to master and control and find purpose in life. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:21.000 They try it through the gaining of knowledge and wisdom, 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:26.000 through the pursuit of pleasure, and John looked at that last week. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.000 And he also speaks a great deal about work, 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:38.000 and about trying to find the meaning in life if you take God out of the picture in work, in a career. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:43.000 And the conclusion he always comes to is, it's meaningless, it's pointless, there's no point in this. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.000 It doesn't seem to have any purpose. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:48.000 I'll come back to that. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:53.000 But even with God in the picture, life under the sun, 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.000 because God is still in the picture as we live this world, 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:02.000 not in heaven as it were, but under the sun, still remains complex. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:07.000 Even as believers, we see injustice and frustration and mysteries, 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:14.000 and there's so much we can't grasp, so much we can't control, like grasping the wind. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.000 We can't do it, so much we battle with. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:21.000 And so we see that tension in the book of Ecclesiastes, 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:25.000 but we know that it's always pointing us towards trust. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.000 We looked at that the second week. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:31.000 The conclusion of the book is, fear God and keep His commandments. 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:36.000 And so we find that the writer is always dealing with life and finding 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:41.000 and looking for God's redemptive wisdom in all the battles. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:47.000 It always points towards that one great shepherd mentioned in the last paragraph 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:51.000 of the book that we looked at. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:55.000 And as we trust in Him, as we trust in the great shepherd, 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:01.000 He breeds life and perspective into our pursuit of knowledge, 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:08.000 into our understanding of pleasure, and into how we make sense of work. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:13.000 And we recognize, and the writer of Ecclesiastes recognizes the teacher 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:19.000 that God is sovereign, He's in control, and gives purpose and meaning 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:24.000 to all our pursuits, to all our pleasures, to all our seeking afterwards wisdom, 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:30.000 and also to our work, and that there's going to be better to come. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:35.000 So work is a great theme of Ecclesiastes, 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.000 and nearly always it's called toil in the book. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.000 It's a huge theme. It's repeated. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:44.000 There's multiple references to work and to toil, 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:52.000 both in the context of God working, in the context of the frustration of work, 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:57.000 and also in the context of the significance and the blessing of work. 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.000 But it's nearly always spoken of as toil, 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.000 as something that's frustrating and difficult. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:11.000 Now I think Ecclesiastes, therefore, and I will come to more direct references in a minute. 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:17.000 The book speaks into two, I think, two extremes that are prevalent in society 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:22.000 and that can easily be embraced into our thinking as Christians, 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:28.000 and we need to be aware of them and be aware of them in our lives. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:32.000 So there's two extremes, really, sometimes when people think about work. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:41.000 One is that we live to work. That's the whole point of life, is to work and be employed. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Everything revolves around that in our life. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.000 Everything else is secondary to work and to our career, 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:55.000 our identity, our worth, our purpose, our passion, our relationships, our rest, our pleasure, 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:00.000 all serve this driving ambition to work, to work, to work, 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.000 and we can be addicted to work. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.000 We can be workaholics. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:12.000 So that is one extreme, isn't it, that we find in society that people live to work. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.000 They are workaholics. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.000 It's the main ambition and the main drive in their lives, 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:22.000 and if it was taken from them, they would completely collapse. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:30.000 The other extreme is that people work to live. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:36.000 That it's simply a necessary evil, that it's a means to an end, 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:42.000 that we just work from week to week to get a wage in order to spend it on our pleasure, 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.000 because that's our real passion. 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:51.000 So that, you know, we can work, we can live to work, or we can work to live. 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:55.000 And if you're working just to enjoy the rest of, 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:58.000 so it provides the necessary resources for the rest of your life, 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:03.000 then you'll dread Monday mornings and you'll live for Friday, 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:09.000 because it's the necessary evil that you need to go through to get to the end of the week. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:14.000 That's why I think, and many people do have that, even if they don't think it, 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:15.000 we'll have that philosophy. 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:18.000 That's why so many people do the lottery, 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:22.000 so that they will not have to do this necessary evil from week to week, 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:26.000 but they will have enough money just to enjoy life and the pleasures of life, 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:33.000 which of course Solomon, or the writer, the teacher, speaks into also. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:40.000 But neither of these extremes are biblical, or what God has for us. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.000 Neither of them are fulfilling, neither of them are balanced, 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:50.000 because they both leave God out of the picture, either living simply to work, 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.000 or working just so that you can live. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:10:00.000 So how does Ecclesiastes speak into this theme? 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.000 Well, he speaks into this theme by reminding us, 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:06.000 well, should I, actually, I'll just slightly broaden it here at this point, 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:11.000 is he does speak about work being good, okay? 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:15.000 And that comes from his understanding of God and the character of God, 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:21.000 and that we see that God, right from the very beginning, in Genesis 2, 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:27.000 chapter 2 verse 2, if we have that screen, I think I've got that text on the screen, 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:32.000 we find there on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:38.000 and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:43.000 And we see also that the writer to Ecclesiastes, 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:48.000 I've got quite a few verses, it's just because it's working and jumping in this theme through the book, 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:53.000 as you do not know the way of the spirit comes into the bones and the womb of a woman with child, 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.000 so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:00.000 So there's that creation link between the God who works, 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:07.000 and even the mystery of that as the writer speaks of it here. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:12.000 And we recognize therefore that work in and of itself is intrinsically good. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:16.000 It's an important thing because God is a worker. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:21.000 God in the beginning was a landscape gardener. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:26.000 God in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, was a carpenter. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:27.000 They worked. 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:32.000 Now isn't it interesting that Jesus worked for 30 years? 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:35.000 None of his joinery remains. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.000 We don't know any of the cabinets that he made, any of the stools, any of the chairs. 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:40.000 Nothing remains. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:47.000 You would think the Son of God would have somehow kept these amazing works of God, 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.000 but no, they've gone. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:53.000 But yet he ennobled work by being a carpenter. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:58.000 God in the beginning created the glorious work of creation. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:06.000 And of course, in Christ we find that he himself describes his work, Jesus, 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:11.000 or his coming and his salvation as work in John 17. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:14.000 For I finished the work you gave me to do. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:18.000 So there's this sense in which God is a working God, 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:24.000 and he's working in a way that's allowed you all to come this evening through providence, 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.000 through enabling you all to be here, enabling us to be here. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.000 That is God's ongoing work. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.000 So work is good because God works. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:36.000 And we are his image bearers, aren't we? 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:40.000 And therefore we see and we know from the Bible that work is good 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:46.000 because work was part of the perfect world before the fall in Genesis 3. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:49.000 You know, we're not just made for the weekends. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:52.000 We're not just made for pleasure and for holidays abroad. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.000 It's not just a necessary evil. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.000 We were created to be workers. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:01.000 It's critical to our DNA. 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:08.000 You know that when the privilege of work is taken from you. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:16.000 And all of our work in God's economy is good. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.000 All work is good. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:23.000 There's not a gradation of work in God's eyes, whether we're shop assistants, cleaners, 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:26.000 homemakers, doctors, teachers in the academy. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:32.000 No calling is intrinsically higher before God because God has given us all. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:35.000 And God has given that diversity of work. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:36.000 And we need work. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:45.000 Unemployment is not a reasonable and good economic price to pay for a civilized society 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:48.000 because we are made to work. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.000 So work is good. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.000 Work under God is good. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:14:00.000 And Ecclesiastes makes that clear at different points, which I'll mention. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:07.000 But what maybe is folk highlighted well in Ecclesiastes is our work is also cursed. 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:09.000 Our work is cursed. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:17.000 Sin introduced toil to our work so that in the passage we read in 2, chapter 2, maybe in verse 20, 2 and 23, 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:23.000 what a man, what has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath his sun. 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.000 For all his days are full of sorrow. 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:27.000 His work is a vexation. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:29.000 Even in the night his heart does not rest. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:39.000 And there's that recognition in Ecclesiastes that sin brought thorns and thistles into the concept of work. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:44.000 We work, God said, under his judgment by the sweat of our brow. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:46.000 It's a battle. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:47.000 It's a struggle. 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.000 We have competing desires. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:53.000 We're faced with laziness and with pride and with opposition. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:56.000 Dignity can be removed from work. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:04.000 Slavery is a result of the sin of greed and humanity's desire to oppress others. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:11.000 And many different sinful tendencies make work toil. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:19.000 The word is just a word that speaks about heaviness and toil and difficulty. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:24.000 And so Ecclesiastes recognizes that work is toil. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:31.000 And it recognizes beyond that, that it's futility if you take God out of the picture. 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:35.000 I hated all my toil, verse 18, in which I toil under the sun, 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:38.000 seeing that I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:42.000 And who knows if he'll be wise or a fool? 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:51.000 So he recognizes that we can be out of control of what happens to the fruit of our labor when we die. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:53.000 And it seems meaningless. 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:56.000 We take nothing with us. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:01.000 Ecclesiastes 5 speaks about that, you know, as he came from his mother's womb, 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:08.000 he shall go on again naked as he came and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:12.000 You know, there's that without God in the picture, you just, you're born. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:16.000 You go to school, you grow up, you work and you die. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.000 But you don't take any of it with you. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.000 You die as naked as you were born. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:23.000 There's not anything to take. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:29.000 And there seems to be a deep futility and a deep meaninglessness about that. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:30.000 There's a weariness. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.000 The toil of a fool. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:36.000 Ecclesiastes 10 weres him for he does not know his way to the city. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.000 I love that verse. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:39.000 It's a great verse, isn't it? 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:42.000 You know, when God's out of the picture, well, why are people working? 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.000 Where are they going with it? 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:46.000 Do they know what direction they're going in? 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:51.000 And he's making clear as he unpacks life without God in the picture 00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:01.000 that if we base our lives ambition and identity and worth on work and achievement, 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:07.000 our existence is anxious and fragile because there's no guarantees apart from anything else. 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:13.000 Why bother other than spend and be spent? 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:15.000 Well, we're all going to return to dust. 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.000 We'll all be forgotten. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:22.000 And it can be a hugely lonely pursuit to think like that. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:26.000 So again and again, with God out of the picture, he says, 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.000 Heville, Heville, it's meaningless. 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:31.000 We can't understand it. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:33.000 We can't grasp the meaning of it. 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:34.000 We can't control it. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.000 And it leaves us frustrated. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:43.000 Working so easily without God become abused, stripped of value, 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:50.000 uncoupled from its end product, dehumanized. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.000 But work is good. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.000 Work is cursed. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.000 But work can also be redeemable. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:05.000 And we know that that is the purpose behind what is being spoken of in Ecclesiastes. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:12.000 There's that great sense in which as we see the reality of our own sin 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:17.000 and our own brokenness and our need for the one that God sent, 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:22.000 then we come to know Christ. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:29.000 We recognize that the major work of our lives is to believe in the one He sent. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:34.000 To believe in the one shepherd that's spoken of at the end of this book. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:38.000 To believe so that we can fear the Lord and obey His commandments 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:40.000 because Jesus has done it in our place. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:49.000 And wisdom therefore takes us to that point where we can see that work is inherently good and important. 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:54.000 It gives us a new perspective because as he says there in chapter 3 and verse 10, 00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:00.000 we've got eternity in our hearts. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.000 We still cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end, 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.000 but we've got eternity in our hearts. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:14.000 And when we focus our attention on God and on who He is and on His purpose as far as we can see, 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:22.000 that His grace in our lives changes everything and gives our work, dignity and purpose. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:28.000 We can appreciate the sovereignty of God over life and over work. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.000 There's many things that we don't understand. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:33.000 That's true. 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:38.000 And he speaks about it in that verse there. He also speaks about it here in verse chapter 8. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:43.000 Then I saw the work of God that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun however much. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:50.000 Man may toil in seeking. He will not find out even though a wise man claims to know he cannot find it out. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:57.000 And so there's this sense in which even as believers there's much about God's work 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:01.000 and there may even be much about our work that we don't fully understand. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:11.000 But we recognize that he is sovereign and he is controlling all that's happening in this seemingly chaotic world. 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:18.000 And you've got that visually in the book, in the passage we read, because the book seems to be quite chaotic. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:24.000 I've seen some different commentators try to plan it all out and say, this section's about this and then next. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.000 It's very difficult to see that in the book. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:33.000 It all seems to be higgled to, piggled to, moving from God and then moving away from God and moving back to God. 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:39.000 But then chapter 3 verses 1 to 8, you get perfect rhythm. 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:44.000 Time for this, time for that, time for this, time for that, time for this, time for that. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:50.000 And you know that great passage that Pete Seeger made famous many years ago into a song, Turn Turn, 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:59.000 time for everything under heaven. And it seems to contrast the chaos of this world without God. 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:13.000 You've got this picture of ordered rhythmic reality where God has made everything beautiful in His time. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:20.000 It's almost like we get a glimpse into God's purposes. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:27.000 For us, much seems chaotic, but God says, no, I know everything I'm doing. 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:35.000 There's a time for absolutely everything. And that is God's business. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:47.000 And there seems to be there a reminder for us that in the midst of the chaos of our lives, God's sovereign purposes are being outworked. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:53.000 To the end, the Bible goes on to explain beautifully in the New Heavens and the New Earth. 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:59.000 So our work is redeemable when we come to Christ, when we recognize His sovereignty, 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:08.000 and when we recognize the value of what He says about work. But the toil does remain. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:15.000 There's much in this book and much in our own experience, which I think it's helpful to be reminded of, 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:25.000 that when we get up on a Monday morning, it's not all sunshine and smiles as Christians in our lives and our workplaces. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:31.000 But deep-seated honesty about this book. We remain sometimes with deep questions. 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:37.000 There's a lot of injustice in the workplace. There's a lot of frustration, sometimes opposition. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:45.000 It can be tough. You can have a really boring job. And it's still God glorifying, 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:52.000 but it can be utterly dull and boring, unsatisfying, seemingly insignificant by the world's standards, 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.000 full of thorns and thistles. You might as a Christian be questioning God and say, 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:04.000 why am I getting my dream job? Why am I getting everyday supersonic fulfillment from my work? 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:12.000 Because I'm a Christian, I should. Thorns and thistles. They will always be there for us in this life. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:19.000 There will always be battles. We may never get our dream job. We may struggle in a dull and seemingly insignificant job. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:25.000 But if we do it to God's glory, and if we thank Him for the privilege of being able to work, 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:37.000 then it's as absolutely as significant, you know, as the President of the United States' work, 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:48.000 bad example. The toil remains. But we also can know tranquility as Christians. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:54.000 And that's the difference what we find glimpses of throughout this book. And it says it again and again, 00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:00.000 actually, look at chapter 2 verse 24. Now this is repeated a lot of the times in the book. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:05.000 There's nothing better for a person than that you should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:12.000 It's still toil, but it's to find enjoyment in it. This, I also saw, was from the hand of God 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:17.000 for apart from him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment. And that's repeated again and again 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:24.000 throughout the book. That phrase is repeated, eat and drink and enjoy even the toil. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:32.000 There can be, you know, it speaks about finding rest and quietness, finding purpose and balance. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:40.000 I'm not going to go through all the references. Being thankfulness, having joy, or you can take the New Testament, 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:49.000 maybe fulfillment of all these verses, Colossians 3, 23, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:58.000 and not for men. So there's that recognition that there can be for us tranquility in our work. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:08.000 And we can understand that because of who God is and what he has done for us in our lives. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:18.000 So whatever you do, whatever you find that is your employment, is your work in life, 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:26.000 however far it is from your ideal or from your longing, do it for his glory. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:32.000 Do it with the recognition that is his eyes on you. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:39.000 This is an illustration that I can't really remember. It's always bad to start an illustration you can't remember. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:49.000 But I remember somewhere reading a long time ago about the very fine stonework that is done at the very top of maybe cathedrals, 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:55.000 which nobody sees really fine detailed work that stone masons do. 00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:00.000 And someone asking one of the stone masons, why do you bother doing it so beautifully 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:03.000 when it's hundreds of feet up and no one ever sees it? 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:10.000 Because you know, it wouldn't have been seen in many days. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:15.000 And they said, well, because we're doing it for the glory of God. 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:22.000 And that in itself becomes a valuable motivation for whatever we do. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:29.000 God is our witness. So I say to you, as I have to say to myself, whatever you do and work, 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:35.000 do it well. Do it honestly. Do it consistently. 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:42.000 Help others in the workplace. Be different because you don't grumble and complain and long always for Friday. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:47.000 I know it can be ideal, it can sound idealistic. It can sound impossible. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:54.000 But it's taking a God perspective into a secular environment that should make a difference. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:27:00.000 Whatever that work is that we do it for the glory of God as believers, 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:10.000 because we have put our trust in Jesus Christ, who has finished the work God gave him to do on our behalf. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:18.000 So as we conclude, we're reminded of, I think, two things that work will not always make sense. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:24.000 It will not always go the way we want, just as life went either. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:33.000 Heav'l, meaningless, trying to grasp the wind, trying to understand and control everything that's happening in our lives 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:40.000 and in this world in which we live. But we need to believe there's a time for everything because God is sovereign and in control. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:49.000 We need to fight against the need to always be in control, but to leave God, His rightful place of sovereignty. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:56.000 In all we do, even in our unemployment, recognize that we can still work. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:00.000 It might not be employed work, but there's maybe things that we can do and serve. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:10.000 But always recognize that we were made to work. We're not made to be on skiing holidays and always relaxing. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:21.000 It destroys us. We were made, pleasure was given to us as a balance for the work we do, 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:26.000 but it should never be the meaning of our lives, but it will not always make sense. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:30.000 But also remember that the fear of the Lord changes everything. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:36.000 That is putting our trust in Jesus Christ. He's the great shepherd. Love Him. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:42.000 And love your work. And love your neighbor in the workplace. Love your enemy in the workplace. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:49.000 Pray about your work. Pray for your bosses. Pray for the people you're really struggling with. 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:58.000 Pray in your studies, and I include studies, I see students here tonight, I include your studies as part of your work, calling this point. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:04.000 Pray about the difficulties that you're going through just now. Pray for your attitude in the workplace. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:10.000 Pray that you don't necessarily just think and act the same way as everyone else, who just longing maybe sometimes for Friday, 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.000 or who are so obsessed with work that it's their whole life. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:21.000 Show them that you have another important perspective in your life. Be prepared for toil, 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:29.000 but also expect tranquility when you trust the living God. Bring grace into your workplace. 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:36.000 And remember, your calling is just as important as anyone else's calling by God's grace. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:41.000 Every bit as important as any other job. 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:49.000 Let's pray. Father God, help us to understand your will and your way. Help us to understand your truth. 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:57.000 Ecclesiastes is so difficult, Lord, and I confess that this evening. And there's much I don't understand in the way it's written. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:06.000 But as we take it as a whole, we pray your Holy Spirit will teach us from it, that we would see its central message. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:13.000 We would see sometimes the complexity and the seeming confusion of it all, 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:21.000 but it would drive us to trust you more and to look for the great deep gems that are within it that draws towards Jesus. 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:29.000 So may we honor you in our work, may we recognize it's not always going to be plain sailing, but it will be toil, 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:35.000 at least until you come again. Then it will be beautiful. 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:43.000 And remind us that you, every single second of each day is under your sovereign care. 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:49.000 And everything is beautiful in its time because nothing is randomly evil or dark. 00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:55.000 But all will be, all will stand and everything will stand before you. 00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:04.000 And we will see more clearly then all the things that confuse us and challenges and bring questions into our hearts. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:09.000 So help us to see that more clearly. We pray tonight for Jesus' sake. Amen.