Thank you, Jen, and thank you for bearing with us.
It's a joy to worship with you.
It is a little tight in here, but what's great about that is I can hear all of you sing really well.
And it's such a privilege and a joy to worship together.
Please turn with me in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 2.
We started this sermon series in this wonderful book in the Old Testament two weeks ago.
Three weeks ago.
We are in chapter 2, verses 12 to 26 this morning.
Let me pray now for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Heavenly Father, we come to your Word again.
We are weak, but you are strong.
Our words are sometimes filled with untruths, but your Word is truth.
And your Word gives life.
We ask that you would make alive spiritually by your power every single soul here this morning as we listen to your Word.
Lord, we pray that you would humble us again.
Remind us of our finiteness, our creatureliness, our mortality, so that we might know the end of our days and live with wisdom and humility.
And point us to the good news of Jesus Christ.
Exalt His name, the most precious gift you've given us.
So that His name is exalted and trusted in.
Amen.
On every lip and by every heart here in this room.
Help us now in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
If you are able, please stand.
And for the reading of God's Word, we'd like to stand to honor God as we read His Word.
And I will read it out loud for us.
Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verses 12 to 26.
So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly.
For what can the man do who comes after the king?
Only what has already been done.
Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly,
as there is more gain in light than in darkness.
The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.
And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.
Then I said in my heart,
What happens to the fool will happen to me also.
Why then have I been so very wise?
And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
For of the wise as of the fool, there is no enduring remembrance,
seeing that in the days to come, all will have been long forgotten.
How the wise dies just like the fool.
So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me,
for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
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.
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.
So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,
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.
What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
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.
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.
For apart from him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
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.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
As I mentioned, we started our new sermon series three weeks ago,
and the first week of the sermon, which introduced the entire series in this book of Ecclesiastes,
we talked about how our life is but a breath.
That we are fleeting.
That we are never filled as human beings.
And that we will all eventually be forgotten.
That's the reality of life in this fallen world as we work this cursed ground.
However, that might prompt some people to respond in a hedonistic way.
Saying, well, if that's the case, and it's all futile and fleeting,
then I'm just going to live a maximally pleasurable life and indulge myself in everything.
Well, that's what we saw in last week's passage.
And the preacher of Ecclesiastes concluded that even after indulging in every conceivable pleasure
and denying himself no pleasure that his eyes can see and desire,
he concluded that even pleasure is but a breath.
No pleasure on earth can ultimately satisfy.
It gives us diminishing returns and leaves us ultimately empty.
Now, that reality then might prompt some people to respond,
instead turning toward work.
Trying to do something meaningful.
Trying to make something of their own lives.
And to leave a legacy.
I'm going to be successful and I'm going to leave a mark on this earth.
That's where we are headed this morning in this morning's passage in Ecclesiastes 2.12-26.
But the author of Ecclesiastes quickly bursts that bubble also.
And he tells us that work and all that we stand to gain from our work and our hard work
are also heavy, a puff of breath.
A passing wind.
Striving after wind.
But then, he tells us something that he hasn't told us yet up to this point.
And this is really the first light that we see,
the light of hope that shines onto this darkness of Ecclesiastes,
the despair that we've seen so far.
And it's just knowing that our work and what we gain from our work are but a breath,
we should enjoy our work as a gift from God.
And that's the amazing insight and wisdom we gain from this word.
And how do we actually do that?
How do we enjoy that work?
That's what we're going to talk about.
But first, before we get there, we're going to talk about how we will all be forgotten.
The author of Ecclesiastes likes to remind us of that and keep us in our place.
And then he will tell us that we must leave it all behind.
And then he tells us that we should enjoy our work.
The preacher once again turns to assessing the merits of these three approaches to life,
wisdom, madness, and folly in verse 12.
And he asks, does it matter at all whether you live as a wise man or a madman or a fool?
And he begins the exploration with this question.
For what can the man do who comes after the king?
As I've mentioned in the previous weeks, I think most likely the character of this book,
the preacher, is King Solomon, who compiled some of these wise sayings.
And so I think he is thinking hypothetically about what his successor might do.
And Solomon knows the answer, and he gives it.
Only what has already been done.
What can the man do who comes after the king?
Only what has already been done.
Here he is echoing what he said early in chapter 1, verses 9 to 10.
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done.
And there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said, see, this is new?
It has been already in the ages before us.
Nothing we do is ever truly, in an absolute sense, novel.
It's something like it has already been done before.
Look at the things that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are campaigning on.
What can the man do who comes after the king?
Let's see what they promise.
Harris promises to curb the emission of greenhouse gases and control climate change.
That sounds a lot like Joe Biden before her,
who provided hundreds of billions of dollars toward clean energy.
That sounds a lot like Barack Obama before him,
who helped negotiate the Paris Climate Accords.
That sounds a lot like Bill Clinton before him,
who negotiated the Kyoto Protocol,
in which developed countries promised to cut their carbon emissions.
And that sounds a lot like what George H.W. Bush negotiated and signed,
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
And that sounds a lot like what Ronald Reagan,
who signed the Global Climate Protection Act of 1987.
So what Harris is promising to do is nothing new.
For what can the man do who comes after the king?
Only what has already been done.
Democratic and Republican presidents in past years
have all tried to solve this issue to no avail.
Similarly, Donald Trump promises that he will end the Russia-Ukraine war
as soon as he becomes president.
And that he will restore peace through strength
and prevent World War III.
Once again, campaign promises like that are nothing new.
In 1916, Woodrow Wilson campaigned for re-election with this slogan,
He kept us out of war.
Just 29 days after he was sworn in for his second term,
U.S. declared war against Germany, joining World War I.
After him, in 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt promised during his campaign,
Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.
But a year later, after Pearl Harbor was bombed,
U.S. declared war on Japan and entered World War II.
After him, 1964, Lyndon Johnson said during his campaign
he would not send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home
to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.
But later that year, he dramatically increased U.S. military presence in Vietnam,
in the Vietnam War.
After him, in 1968, Richard Nixon promised that he would end the Vietnam War
and make peace with honor.
But he never did manage to end the Vietnam War.
After him, in 2000, George W. Bush campaigned,
saying that he would stop extending our troops all around the world
in nation-building missions.
But in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks,
he started new wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After him, in 2008, Barack Obama pledged to end the war in Afghanistan,
only to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan year after year
in both his first and second terms.
After him, Joe Biden promised that he would end the forever wars.
But now there are two more wars going on,
in Ukraine and in Gaza, Israel.
Sure, Israel isn't directly involved,
but we've spent hundreds of billions of dollars
and some U.S. soldiers have died,
killed by Iran-backed terrorist groups.
So what Trump is promising to do is nothing new.
For what can the man do who comes after the king?
Only what has already been done.
The Democratic and Republican presidents in the past
have all tried to end wars,
but the warring nations pay no heed to such campaign promises.
And the sinful nature of humanity does not change,
apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ.
Now, this doesn't mean that there is no point in trying to gain wisdom at all
or trying to conduct ourselves with wisdom
or to elect wiser rulers.
Of course, there is a point in all that.
It's still better to be wise than to be foolish.
And that's what the preacher says in verses 13 to 14.
Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly,
as there is more gain in light than in darkness.
The wise person has his eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.
The wise person lives in light,
and the foolish person lives in darkness.
The wise person knows how to navigate life with wisdom,
and he knows how to avoid the pitfalls of life.
But the foolish person is ignorant and just stumbles through life,
which is better.
Of course, wisdom is better.
The preacher does not deny the superiority of wisdom in an ultimate sense,
and this is consistent with the teaching of Proverbs.
But here's the kicker at the end of verse 14.
And yet I perceive that the same event happens to them all.
What is this same event?
That happens to them all.
It's death.
The preacher continues in verses 15 to 17.
Then I said in my heart,
What happens to the fool will happen to me also.
Why then have I been so very wise?
And I said in my heart that this also is vanity,
for of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance,
seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten,
how the wise dies just like the fool.
So I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me,
for all is vanity and is striving after wind.
Think about it this way.
There are two drivers,
and they're both going to die in a car accident today.
But one of them is a very competent and careful driver.
He slows down before the speed bumps.
He checks the rear view mirror and the side mirrors as he is driving.
He hovers very close to the speed limit,
and he doesn't speed.
He stops at all the lights.
And if you are in his car,
you feel like this is the smoothest and safest ride you've ever been on.
And then there's the second driver.
This is a reckless and foolish driver.
When he is driving through the speed bumps,
the car basically gets airtime.
Now, he never checks any of the mirrors,
and the cars are honking all over the place.
Oops, there goes a red light that I just ran.
Now, which way of driving is better?
Clearly, the wise way of driving is better,
but they're both going to die today in a car accident.
So what's the point?
That's the philosophical question
that the preacher of Ecclesiastes is driving at.
Do you feel the futility of it all?
The wise person who works diligently
and saves gradually and invests prudently
and grows his or her wealth,
and the foolish person who is lazy
and then squanders her wealth
and then becomes homeless,
both of those people are going to die one day.
And they'll have to leave it all behind.
Death, as people say, is the great equalizer.
And who is going to remember them?
No one.
For of the wise as of the fool,
there is no enduring remembrance,
seeing that in the days to come,
all will have been long forgotten.
Even if you make something,
an enduring contribution to the world,
and you are memorialized or immortalized
with a statue or a bust somewhere
or a building named after you,
one day someone's going to raise that building
to make room for a new one,
and they'll name it after someone else.
One day they will topple that statue
because the values have changed,
and someone else will be put up.
Earlier this month,
I saw an article
about how the Chicago Bears legend,
I don't know how many of you guys know this legend,
Steve McMichael.
You guys know who this is?
Not a single person.
Chicago Bears legend,
Steve McMichael,
was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
earlier this month.
And you know what's sad?
I saw a picture of the induction
because he couldn't attend the ceremony in person.
All his,
in the picture,
the man is bedridden in hospital
because he's dying from ALS.
While his wife and friends are surrounding him,
they're smiling,
and they're beaming with pride,
and the wife is holding this bronze bust of him.
Of course,
it's modeled after when he was still young
and handsome and athletic and muscular.
And he is a shell of himself now,
just lying there in bed.
And she's beaming at the bust and says,
hey, look, this is you.
This is you.
Forever.
That's you forever.
Isn't it beautiful?
That's what the wife says.
The scene is thick with irony.
No, that bust is clearly not him.
Looks nothing like him now.
And surely,
it's not him forever.
That recognition does not last forever.
In fact,
he's already in the process of being forgotten,
as you can see.
He can't talk.
He can't smile.
He can't even turn to look at the bust.
His wife has to grab his head
and turn his head toward it.
Do you really think the man in that situation cares
that he just got into the Proof Football Hall of Fame?
Whether you are rich or poor,
famous or anonymous,
a success or a failure,
there is no enduring remembrance,
seeing that in the days to come,
all will have been long forgotten.
That's the brutal reality of life in this fallen world.
Maybe you're trying to invent something
or start a new business
that will be the next Amazon
or Microsoft
or Google
or Apple.
Maybe you want to make a break,
make some breakthroughs in AI
or make some other lasting contribution
to your academic field.
Maybe you want to write a best-selling book.
But no matter what we accomplish,
the inescapable reality
is that we will all be forgotten.
There is futility to our work
that is woven into the very fabric
of this fallen world.
It's all a striving after wind.
And if you keep chasing after that wind,
seeking some sort of ultimate gain
from the work that you do,
then you will end up hating life,
as the preacher says here.
And you will conclude
that life under the sun is grievous.
However,
if we recognize this humbling truth
and lean into the freedom of insignificance,
the freedom of mortality,
then instead of treating our work
and what we stand to gain from work
as a God,
we can do our work
and receive the gain
from our blessings of our work
as a gift.
And that's the difference.
The preacher of Ecclesiastes
will elaborate on this a little later.
But before we get to that,
there's another sobering truth
in verses 18 to 23.
Not only will we ourselves be forgotten,
our life's work
and all the wealth we've gained,
we must leave it all behind.
The preacher says in verses 18 to 19,
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.
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.
The certainty of death means
that sooner or later,
we must leave all our accomplishments
and possessions behind.
But there is no guarantee
that our successor will be wise,
wise stewards of what we have passed down.
Now, I think the preacher of Ecclesiastes,
which I think is most likely King Solomon,
was prescient in his realization
because if you recall what happens
right after King Solomon's death,
his son Rehoboam takes over the throne
and then people come and petition him
to lighten their workload.
And Rehoboam, instead of listening
to the wise counselors,
the old man who used to serve
in Solomon, his father's court,
instead he spurns their counsel
and then listens to the foolish young men
who grew up with him
and were standing now in his court.
And because of that,
the kingdom is split now,
divided into northern kingdom of Israel
and southern kingdom of Judah,
and then it begins its downward spiral
from there.
And the zenith of the kingdom of Israel,
which Solomon enjoyed,
is no longer to be found.
Similarly, Clint Murchison Jr.
Murchison Jr. was the son of an oil tycoon
who inherited $200 million
after his father's passing in the late 1960s,
adjusted for inflation
that would be worth over $400 million today.
But unlike his father,
who invested his money wisely,
Murchison Jr. frittered away his money
on passion projects and failed ventures,
and by 1985, he had filed for bankruptcy.
He liquidated all of his assets to repay his debt,
and he died two years later penniless.
Both him and Rehoboam destroyed
their wiser father's legacies.
All of us, as mortals,
face this predicament.
Perhaps you work hard to get a PhD,
and then a postdoc,
and then you gain a tenured professorship
at an esteemed research university,
and then you get a lab named after you.
But what happens to all of it after you die?
Someone will take over your lab.
The lab will be renamed.
And who knows whether your successor
will be wise or foolish,
whether they will see any value
in the research you are doing at all.
Maybe they decide to scrap it all.
We're going to go in a different direction.
What's the point, then,
of all your hard work,
all your worries,
and late nights?
He says in verses 22 to 23,
What has a man from all the toil
and striving of heart
with which he toils beneath the sun?
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.
What is there for us to gain
in all the work that we do?
Why do we stress out
and endure sleepless nights
for the sake of our work?
It's no wonder that the preacher says
in verse 20,
So I turned about
and gave my heart up to despair.
Despair over all the toil
of my labors under the sun.
This is the only place
in the book of Ecclesiastes
where we find the word despair.
And note the repetition
of this phrase,
under the sun.
It occurs four times
from verses 17 to 20,
and all in the context
of the most despairing,
hopeless statements
of the preacher.
And this is no accident.
Life under the sun,
life here in this fallen world
is but the merest breath.
It is fleeting,
and it is futile.
That is the inescapable condition
of this cursed ground,
which we have been consigned to work.
And Christians and non-Christians alike
must grapple with the reality
of this fallen world
every single day.
And the preacher's reaction
to this futility
is very strong.
Twice,
he says he hates this kind of life.
He says in verse 17,
so I hated life
because what is done
under the sun
was grievous to me.
And again in verse 18,
he says,
I hated all my toil
in which I toil under the sun.
These are the only two places
in the book of Ecclesiastes
where the preacher says
he hated his life and work.
But this most desperate
and dark
and despairing passage
occurs immediately before
the first light
of Ecclesiastes,
which shines through
in this next few verses.
And here's that first light
in verse 24 and verse 25.
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
for apart from him
who can eat
or who can have enjoyment.
This is the first
of what is known as
five Carpe Diem passages.
You guys have heard
the phrase Carpe Diem,
right?
C is the day
from Latin.
And there's five such passages
in the book of Ecclesiastes.
And it's an exhortation
to take advantage
of your present opportunities
and to enjoy life today
while it still lasts
rather than counting on tomorrow
which may never come.
This is different from hedonism
which pursues pleasure
as the highest good.
We saw the programmatic end
of hedonism
in last week's passage
where Solomon recounts
his foray into the pleasures
and self-indulgence.
He says he kept his heart
from no pleasure
and indulged in all
that his eyes desired.
Alcohol, gardens, parks,
pools, possessions,
jewelry, treasures,
music, sex.
He tried them all
and he still concluded
it's all vanity
and there is nothing
to be gained in them.
The pleasures of this world
cannot ultimately
fail or satisfy us.
The preacher already knows this
so this is not
a hedonistic despair.
But he's saying
something different
when he says
there is nothing better
for a person
than that he should eat
and drink
and find enjoyment
in his toil.
The word toil
is a key word in this book.
It occurs almost 30 times
in the book
and it captures
the fallen condition
of humanity
in the world.
Our work in this world
is toil and hardship
because of Adam's sin.
Remember what happened
after Adam sinned
in the Garden of Eden.
Now you must work the ground
with the sweat of your brow
and it will yield to you
thorns and thistles.
That's what toil looks like.
You till the ground
and you sow the seeds
by the sweat of your brow
but it still yields
thorns and thistles.
There is a pain
and there is a futility
in all of our labors
under the sun.
And for that reason
the very first
real philosophical question
of the book of Ecclesiastes
was this
in chapter 1 verse 3.
What does man gain
by all the toil
at which he toils
under the sun?
What do we have to gain
from this?
And the word gain
is a translation
of a Hebrew word
that means profit.
It's an economical term.
Profit or advantage.
It conveys the human desire
to make a profit.
To leave a surplus.
To get to the bottom line
of the ledger
and to have a black number there
instead of a red one.
But because we live
in a world that is hevel,
that is mere breath,
there is actually
nothing to be gained.
So the preacher says instead
there is nothing better
for a person
than that he should eat
and drink
and find enjoyment
in his toil.
What does that look like?
We tend to treat life
as a means
to gain control.
As a means
to get ahead.
We tend to use
the world around us
as leverage
for attaining
our own goals.
We see our relationships
and our degrees
and our internships
and jobs
all as stepping stones
for the next thing
to the greater things.
But what if
God gives us
these things
not to be used
or mastered
but simply
to be enjoyed?
What is our work
and indeed
life itself
if it's not
a means of gain
but a gift
to be enjoyed?
That's the meaning
of verses 24
and 25.
This also I saw
is from the hand
of God
for apart from him
who can eat
or who can have
enjoyment?
Our toil
and all our eating
and drinking
come from the hand
of God.
In the despairing
passages of chapter 2
there's not a single
mention of God
at all.
But here
in verses 24
to 26
God is mentioned
three times
in quick succession.
and it's the
presence of God
that transforms
our entire perspective
on life
and enables
to enjoy
these things
as gifts
rather than
employing them
for personal gain.
In fact
two other
Carpe Diem passages
3.13 and 5.19
explicitly use
the word gift
as a contrast
to the word gain.
It says
that everyone
should eat
and drink
and take pleasure
in all his toil.
this is God's
gift
to man.
This is the main point
of the book
of Ecclesiastes
and if you get it
it is profound.
If you see life
as the marketplace
or the trading floor
for gain
then we will live
consumed
and acquisitive lives
that are never satisfied.
But if we receive life
along with all its toils
along with all the joys
and woes
and the highs
and lows
as a gift
then we will be able
to enjoy life
and laugh
along the way.
This life
is still only a breath.
As pastor and professor
Ian Proven puts it
quote
the gift of God
does not make
this meaninglessness
go away.
We do have purpose
and meaning
but in the sense
that the fallen world
the condition
of this fallen world
doesn't change
until the renewal
of the new heavens
and the new earth.
So the meaninglessness
of this life
doesn't go away
the gift of God
does not make it go away
but the gift of God
makes this vanity
enjoyable.
When we let
the certainty of death
and the consequent
futility of life
instill in us
the wisdom of humility
and the freedom
of insignificance
then we can enjoy
our work
as a gift
from God.
We stop seeing
our children
as a means
for gain
as a way
for proving
our superiority
or gaining
social standing
or as a way
of lifting ourselves
up above others.
Oh
your baby started
walking at seven months?
Mine started walking
and swimming
at five months.
Oh
your daughter
went to UMass
with a scholarship?
My daughter
skipped two grades
and went to Harvard
at 15, 16.
Then instead of
running the rat race
this rat race
of life
and driving
our kids
mad
by our own
insatiable
lust for success
and pushing them
to be kids
that we want
them to be
instead of
receiving them
as gifts
that God
has given
as they are
with all their
idiosyncrasies
and quirks
in all their
strengths
and weaknesses.
That's the difference.
When we stop
seeing our work
as a means
for gain
as a way
of making
something
of yourself
to prove
yourself
to leave
a lasting
legacy
then instead
of relating
if we were
to give up
that perspective
instead of
receive it
as a gift
then instead
of relating
to our
colleagues
and fellow
students
as competitors
to beat
we can relate
to them
as neighbors
to love.
Instead of
working ourselves
to death
for this
ephemeral
gain
we can
actually
enjoy
our work
along the way.
Most of the
musicians
who were popular
in the 80s
have long
stopped performing.
Many of them
have been
long forgotten.
Some of them
are already dead.
but there
is a musician
who is still
performing
and making
headlines
dubbed
the Queen
of Pop
Madonna
with sales
of over
400 million
records worldwide
that's almost
four times as much
as Taylor Swift.
Can you imagine
that?
She's a best
selling female
recording artist
of all time.
She's the most
successful solo
artist in history
for the U.S.
Billboard
100 chart
with 44
number one
singles.
She's the first
woman to
accumulate
one billion
dollars in
concert revenue.
She was named
by Forbes
the highest
paid female
musician
a record
11 times
across four
different
separate decades.
She was inducted
into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame
in 2008.
She has even won
a Golden Globe
Award for
Best Actress.
But she's still
not done.
An article
from October
14,
2023
is entitled
Madonna
Celebrates
Four Decades
of Hits
with Career
Spanning
Spectacle.
An article
from May
16,
2024
is entitled
The Nerve
of Madonna
to Pull
It Off
Again.
She's 66
years old.
Why does
she keep
going?
An interview
she gave
to Vanity
Fair
in 1991
gives us
some clues.
Don't worry,
I don't read
Vanity Fair.
I found this
in another
book I read.
This is what
Madonna said
then.
I have
an iron
will
and all
of my
will
has always
been to
conquer
some horrible
feeling
of inadequacy.
I push
past one
spell of it
and discover
myself as
a special
human being
and then I
get to another
stage and think
I'm mediocre
and uninteresting.
Again
and again
my drive
in life
is from
this horrible
fear of
being mediocre
and that's
always pushing
me,
pushing me
because even
though I
become somebody
I still have
to prove
that I'm
somebody.
My struggle
has never
ended
and it
probably
never will.
1991
still going
in 2024.
If anybody
has made
it by our
society and
culture standards
it's
Madonna.
Yet she
feels that she
is mediocre
and uninteresting
and inadequate.
That's the
sad picture
of what it
looks like
to make
your work
your idol.
Working,
making your work
your God
instead of
receiving it
as a gift.
I can
assure you
that Madonna
is not
enjoying
her toil
as a gift.
To her
it's a cruel
necessity
and an
obsession.
There's
nothing better
for a person
than that he
should eat
and drink
and find
enjoyment
in his
toil.
I recall
seeing an ad
recently for
prepared meal
delivery services.
I don't know
if you guys
do this.
It went
something like
this.
Well you
don't want
to eat
unhealthy
fast food
and you
don't have
the time
and the
energy
to go
out
with
your
friends
to a
restaurant
so use
this
prepared
meal
service
and have
it
delivered
to your
door.
That was
the logic
of the
advertisement.
Now I don't
want to condemn
you if you've
used services
like this.
I've gotten
some free
samples myself
in the past.
But we all
lead busy
lives.
But what
if we didn't
see food
and drinks
as a means
for gain
as necessary
fuel
so that we
can continue
working
but instead
we receive
them as
gifts
in and of
themselves
to be
enjoyed.
1 Corinthians
10 31
does not
say
eat and
drink
so that
you can
do
something
for the
glory
of God.
No it
says so
whether
you eat
or drink
or whatever
you do
do all
to the
glory
of God.
We're even
supposed to
eat and
drink
to the
glory
of God.
Note that
this is
not the
same as
the fatalistic
hedonistic
perspective
that is
critiqued
in 1 Corinthians
15 32
let us
eat and
drink
for tomorrow
we die.
That's not
a biblical
perspective.
We don't
eat and
drink
because
there's
nothing
better
to do.
We eat
and drink
because
they are
gifts
from God
for us
to enjoy.
What if
you decide
for yourself
one day
that instead
of choosing
from a menu
that someone
else has
curated for
you,
you choose
for yourself
what you're
going to
make that
day?
What if
instead of
just buying
food
that someone
else has
made,
what if
you decided
one day
to cook
your food?
What if
you slowed
down enough
one day
to actually
enjoy the
food you
made instead
of scarfing
it down
and run
to your
next
appointment?
What if
you took
it even
one step
further?
You took
after Lance
and Shelley
and grew
your own
food and
raised your
own chicken?
Award winning
novelist,
poet,
and cultural
critic Wendell
Berry writes
this in a
chapter entitled
Pleasures of
Eating in
his book
What Are
People For?
He says
this,
eating with
the fullest
pleasure,
pleasure that
does not
depend on
ignorance,
is perhaps
the profoundest
enactment of
our connection
with the
world.
In this
pleasure we
experience and
celebrate our
dependence and
our gratitude
for we are
living from
mystery,
from creatures
we did not
make and
powers we
cannot comprehend.
I haven't
gone fishing
in 20 years,
that's sad,
but somebody,
somebody somewhere
caught the
tuna that I
had yesterday,
and God
ultimately put
that tuna
there in the
seas so that
that fisherman
can catch it,
and tuna
tastes pretty
bland and
squishy by
itself,
but you put
it over a
little bit of
rice,
and you dip
that thing in
a little bit of
soy sauce,
and you eat
that with some
pickled ginger
and wasabi,
oh my goodness,
that's a
delicious sushi.
Or kale.
Kale tastes like
tough grass
by itself,
but you drizzle
some olive oil
on that thing,
and sprinkle some
salt on it,
and you put it
in the oven for
a little bit,
oh, that tastes
better than any
chip you can buy
in the grocery
store.
Who said no?
God created
this vast world
and filled it
to the brim
with things we
can eat and
drink,
and then he
gave us up
to 10,000
taste buds
so that we
can enjoy
them.
Only if we
humbly
acknowledge our
mortality and
slow down
enough to
savor.
On February
1st, 2021,
Pastor Tim Keller
came on Kevin
DeYoung's podcast,
Life and Books
and Everything,
to talk about
a number of
things,
and at one
point,
Keller reflects
on being
diagnosed with
pancreatic
cancer.
He would
actually claim
his life a
few years
later after
this interview.
And then he
talks about how
pancreatic cancer
diagnosis completely
changed his and
his wife's
perspective on
life and the
way they orient
themselves.
He confesses
this.
He says,
I always rested
my heart,
frankly,
in ministry
accomplishments,
ministry goals.
Hey, we've
done this.
We got this
started.
We moved to
that.
In other words,
I really tried
to turn this
world into
heaven.
I was trying
to make
heaven out
of the
earth.
And as a
result of
that,
I was always
unhappy.
I was never
enjoying my
day because
I was always
thinking about
tomorrow and
all the stuff
I have to get
done and how
I'm behind.
And what's
happened with
the cancer is
that suddenly we
can't make a
heaven out of
this earth because
it's going to be
taken away from
us.
It just jolts you
so much that you
say, I got to
make heaven my
heaven.
I got to make
God my
heaven.
And here's
what's really
weird.
When you
actually make
heaven heaven,
the joys of
the earth are
more poignant
than they used
to be.
That's what's
so strange.
We enjoy our
day more than
we ever did.
We look out on
the water here,
the East River
for example.
There's a whole
lot of things that
we never really
enjoy that much.
The more we
make heaven out
of the real
heaven, this
world becomes
something we're
actually enjoying
for its own
sake instead of
trying to make
it give us more
than it really
can.
So oddly enough,
we've never been
happier.
Day to day, we've
never enjoyed our
days more.
We've never enjoyed
hugs more.
We've never enjoyed
food more.
She'll say, this
would be great to
make.
We've never enjoyed
walks more.
We've never enjoyed
the actual things.
We see, touch,
taste, hear, and
smell around us
more.
It's almost like,
why?
What's the matter
with us?
And the answer
is, we got our
hearts off of
those things, so
weirdly enough, we
enjoy them more.
That's the wisdom
of Ecclesiastes.
Helen Lemel's
wonderful hymn is
still true.
Turn your eyes
upon Jesus, look
full in His
wonderful grace,
and the things
of earth will
grow strangely
dim in the
light of His
glory and grace.
That is true.
When we come to
grips with our
mortality and stop
making idols and
gods of the
things of earth,
when we stop
trying to make
the good things
that God has
given us,
God things that
rule our lives,
lo and behold,
not only do the
things of earth
grow dimmer,
we also get to
enjoy the things
of earth that
God's given to
us as gifts.
And God loves
to lavish His
good gifts to
us, doesn't He?
That is His
mode of operation.
In fact, even
our salvation is
a gift.
The default mode
of the human
heart, unfortunately,
is to grind, is
to earn our
salvation as our
keep, rather than
receiving it freely
as a gift.
In 1510, Martin
Luther climbed the
marble steps of
the Scala Sancta
in Rome.
He climbed the
28 steps on his
knees, on each
step reciting the
Lord's Prayer,
because he wrongly
believed that if he
were sincere enough
and if he were
devoted enough and
if he climbed that
stairs enough times
by his act of
devotion that he
might be able to
redeem a soul from
purgatory.
Later in life,
Luther learned not
only that there is
no such thing as a
purgatory, but that
that is not how God
saves His people.
Not by doing some
great works of
piety like climbing
the Scala Sancta,
but by the grace of
God, salvation is
received as a gift
through simple
faith in the
person and work
of Jesus Christ.
And that's why
Jesus never instituted
the Scala Sancta
as a sacrament
that we should
observe.
He instituted
instead the Lord's
Supper as the
sacrament, and in
doing so, He
dignified the
simple and regular
act of eating
and drinking.
This is what He
said in Matthew
26, 26-28.
Jesus took bread
and after blessing
it, broke it and
gave it to the
disciples and said,
take, eat, this
is my body.
And He took a
cup and when He
had given thanks,
He gave it to
them saying,
drink of it, all
of you, for this
is my blood of
the covenant, which
is poured out for
many for the
forgiveness of
sins.
In the same way
that the foods
that we eat and
the drinks that we
drink are gifts
from God for us
to enjoy, so the
body and blood
of Christ, body
broken for us, the
blood shed for us,
are gifts for us
to receive freely
for our eternal
joy.
It's not our own
sacrifice that
saves us, but the
sacrifice of Christ.
It's not our own
body and blood that
saves us, but the
body and blood of
Jesus Christ.
If you think of
your salvation as
gain instead of
as a gift, if you
live in order to
justify yourself, to
obey enough and to
be righteous enough
to earn your keep,
then you will end
up despairing.
All is vanity and
a striving after
wind.
Because you can
never do quite
enough.
But if you trust
in Jesus alone for
your salvation, that
he died on the
cross for the
forgiveness of your
sins and that he
was raised from the
dead, you can
receive salvation as
a gift from God.
Then, the
sacraments, the
eating the bread
and drinking the
blood, the
spiritual disciplines,
prayer, scripture
reading, corporate
worship, fellowship,
and participation in
the community of
God's people, these
things no longer feel
like a drudgery or an
onerous burden that
you must bear.
Rather, they become
gifts that you can
enjoy, that gives life
and freedom.
God has given his only
son to us.
What more can
heaven give?
So let's enjoy these
gifts today.
Let me pray.
Father, we confess that
we so often think that
we know better than
you.
We drive ourselves
seeking satisfaction
and fulfillment,
thinking, oh, we have
no time to lose.
this is the only way,
and I know the way.
But Lord, your ways are
always higher than
ours.
So humble us, oh,
Lord God, to know our
own impending death, and
even more importantly, to
know the death of Jesus
Christ on our behalf.
So we can truly say that
for us, to live is Christ,
and to die is gain.
Help us.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Okay.