Ecclesiastes 2:17-26
Who is my BIG
BIG Boss ?
What is the Biblical
Understanding on the work we
are doing most of the week,
most of our lives ?
First :
I’m just driving a taxi ?
I’m just adding and subtracting
numbers ?
I’m just changing baby diapers ?
I’m just doing the usual task until 6pm
?
Second :
I’m helping my customers get to their
destination ?
I’m making sure I can complete the
balance sheet ?
I’m taking good care of my grandchild ?
I’m helping to manufacture a good
product for my company ?
Third :
I am contributing to the road safety of
Singapore, and well-being of families
coming home safely every evening.
I am ensuring that my company is transparent
in its accounting and continue to provide
jobs for its workers, and services for its
customers.
I am loving my grandchild with God’s love,
protecting and nurturing her.
I am enabling people to use my company’s
products to enhance their lives.
Third :
I am contributing to the road safety of Singapore, and well-being
of families coming home safely every evening. [Taxi-driver]
I am ensuring that my company is transparent in its accounting
and continue to provide jobs for its workers, and services for
its customers. [Accountant]
I am loving my grandchild with God’s love, protecting and
nurturing her. [Grandmother]
I am enabling people to use my company’s products to enhance
their lives. [Factory operator]
I am doing the will of God,
I am worshipping God with my work.
Secular
Jobs
Sacred
Work
All Work can
be Sacred
unto the
Lord
Secular
Jobs
Sacred
Work
All Work
can be
Sacred
unto the
Lord
“secular” = “of or pertaining to worldly
things or to things that are not regarded
as religious, spiritual or sacred.”
Sunday / Maybe Saturday :
Holy, Smiley, Kind, Loving
Sunday / Maybe Saturday :
Holy, Smiley, Kind, Loving
Monday to Friday :
Mean, Quarrelsome, Unjust,
Dishonest
Ecclesiastes 2:17-26
“17So I hated life, because the work that is
done under the sun was grievous to me. All of
it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
18I
hated all the things I had toiled for under the
sun, because I must leave them to the one
who comes after me.
19And
who knows whether he will be a wise
man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all
the work into which I have poured my effort
and skill under the sun. This too is
meaningless.
20So
my heart began to despair over all my
toilsome labor under the sun.
21For
a man may do his work with wisdom,
knowledge and skill, and then he must leave
all he owns to someone who has not worked
for it. This too is meaningless and a great
misfortune.
22What
does a man get for all the toil and
anxious striving with which he labors under the
sun?
23All
his days his work is pain and grief; even
at night his mind does not rest. This too is
meaningless.
24A
man can do nothing better than to eat and
drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too,
I see, is from the hand of God,
25for
without Him, who can eat or find
enjoyment?
26To
the man who pleases him, God
gives wisdom, knowledge and
happiness, but to the sinner he gives the
task of gathering and storing up wealth to
hand it over to the one who pleases God.
This too is meaningless, a chasing after the
wind.”
– Ecclesiastes 2:17-26
Work has become
pain without gain,
wealth without satisfaction,
toil without enjoyment, &
success without a worthy
successor.
“Is work
meaningless ?”
“Is work meaningless ?”
a) What is the root problem of work ?
b) Is there a purpose that goes beyond just
earning a wage ?
c) How can we begin to turn work into a
privilege to be enjoyed, rather than
something to be tolerated ?
Ecclesiastes 2:17, 24
“17So I hated life, because the work that is done
under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is
meaningless, a chasing after the wind. …
24A
man can do nothing better than to eat and drink
and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is
from the hand of God, …”
Work under
the sun
VS
Work from the
Hand of God
Work under
the sun
Ecclesiastes 1: 3, 14
“3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he
toils under the sun? …
14
I have seen all the things that are done under the
sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the
wind.”
Work under
the sun
Ecclesiastes 1: 3, 14 – “3 What does man gain from
all his labor at which he toils under the sun? …
14 I have seen all the things that are done under the
sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the
wind.”
“Under the sun” – a limitation of space.
It is an earthly, temporal and
humanistic perspective.
Work under
the sun
Ecclesiastes 2: 21
“21For
a man may do his work with wisdom,
knowledge and skill, and then he must leave
all he owns to someone who has not worked
for it. This too is meaningless and a great
misfortune.”
Genesis 3:17-19
“17To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your
wife and ate from the tree about which I
commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it’, ‘Cursed
is the ground because of you; through painful toil
you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18It
will produce thorns and thistles for you, and
you will eat the plants of the field.
19By
the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
until you return to the ground, since from it you
were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will
return.’”
Work under
the sun
a. Leisure becomes the focus of our
life
Work under
the sun
“It’s just another manic Monday …
I wish it was Sunday …
‘Cause that’s my fun-day”.
Work under
the sun
a.
Leisure becomes
the focus of our life
Perhaps our life’s focus should be on play.
The goal every morning …
every week …
every year …
working hard ….
Work under
the sun
a.
Leisure becomes
the focus of our life
Is Work a necessary evil ?
Is that God’s will
regarding work for us ?
Work under
the sun
a. Leisure becomes the focus of our
life
b. Work becomes the measure of
our worth.
Work under
the sun
b. Work becomes the measure of
our worth.
Ecclesiastes 2: 19
“Yet he will have control over all the work into which I
have poured my effort and skill under the sun.
This too is meaningless.
Work under
the sun
b.
Work becomes the
measure of our
worth.
Work then is not just what
we do – it literally defines
who we are (our status,
self-image, identity).
Work under
the sun
b.
Work becomes the
measure of our
worth.
Work then is not just what we do – it literally
defines who we are (our status, selfimage, identity).
For work, some have forsaken friends,
family and even health. They forsake not
by intentional abandoning, but by
neglect.
Work under
the sun
b.
Work becomes the
measure of our
worth.
If your god
Is work
Work under
the sun
b.
Work becomes the
measure of our
worth.
Where did all this begin ?
When parents were driven to focus so
much on academic performance that
they neglected the need to help their
child discover that they are persons
first and performers second.
Work from the
Hand of God
b) Is there a purpose that goes beyond just
earning a wage ?
c) How can we begin to turn work into a
privilege to be enjoyed, rather than
something to be tolerated ?
Work from the
Hand of God
1. Work : the divine calling
God works, and so must man.
Genesis 2:2-3 – “2By the seventh day God had
finished the work he had been doing; so on the
seventh day he rested from all his work. 3And God
blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because
on it he rested from all the work of creating that he
had done.”
Work from the
Hand of God
1. Work : the divine calling
God works, and so must man.
The Son of Man (Jesus the carpenter)
worked for 18 years so that we might
understand that work is the dignity of
man.
Work from the
Hand of God
1. Work : the divine calling
Genesis 2:7-8, 15 –
“7
the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man
became a living being. 8Now the LORD God had planted a
garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had
formed. … 15The LORD God took the man and put him
in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
Secular
Jobs
Sacred
Work
All Work can
be Sacred
unto the
Lord
Secular
Jobs
Sacred
Work
All Work can
be Sacred
unto the
Lord
Sinful
Work
Work from the
Hand of God
1. Work : the divine calling
But if our work is not sinful, then we should
commit it to the Lord as a sacred calling from
Him.
Work from the
Hand of God
1. Work : the divine calling
2. Work : the place to mould your
character
Work from the
Hand of God
2. Work : the place to mould your
character
2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 –
“10For even when we were with you, we gave you this
rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ 11We
hear that some among you are idle. They are not
busy; they are busybodies. 13Such people we
command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle
down and earn the bread they eat.”
Work from the
Hand of God
1. Work : the divine calling
2. Work : the place to mould your
character
3. Work : A platform for us to live
as Christ’s disciple
3. Work : A platform
for us to live as
Christ’s disciple
i.
Work from the
Hand of God
Willing to work and provide for our family
1 Tim 5:8 – “8If anyone does not provide for his
relatives, and especially for his immediate family,
he has denied the faith and is worse than an
unbeliever.”
3. Work : A platform
for us to live as
Christ’s disciple
i.
Work from the
Hand of God
Willing to work and provide for our family
1 Tim 5:8 – “8If anyone does not provide for his relatives,
and especially for his immediate family, he has
denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
It is important that as parents, we train
our children to respect all kinds of work.
3. Work : A platform
for us to live as
Christ’s disciple
i.
Work from the
Hand of God
Willing to work and provide for our family
ii. Work unto God
Colossians 3:17 – “17And whatever you do, whether
in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
Him.”
3. Work : A platform
for us to live as
Christ’s disciple
Work from the
Hand of God
ii. Work unto God
Work takes on a divine calling as we become
witnesses to who Jesus is. God is the One who has
sent us out into the workplace, and when we work
with a Christ-like attitude, according to Godly
values, we turn our workplace into our mission field.
3. Work : A platform
for us to live as
Christ’s disciple
Work from the
Hand of God
ii. Work unto God
When we work with a Christ-like attitude, according
to Godly values, we turn our workplace into our
mission field.
How do you think Jesus worked as a
carpenter ?
3. Work : A platform
for us to live as
Christ’s disciple
i.
Work from the
Hand of God
Willing to work and provide for our family
ii. Work unto God
iii. Share God’s love – through words and deeds.
1.
2.
3.
Work : the divine calling
Work : the place to mould your
character
Work : A platform for us to live as
Christ’s disciple
Work from the
Hand of God
Eccl 2:24-26a “24A man can do nothing better than to
eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This
too, I see, is from the hand of God,
25for
26To
without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
the man who pleases him, God gives
wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the
sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up
wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases
God. …”
Eccl 2:24-26a – “24A man can do nothing better than to eat
and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is
from the hand of God,
25for
without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
26To
the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom,
knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the
task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to
the one who pleases God. …”
Revelations 14:13 – “Then I heard a voice from
heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit,
“they will rest from their labor, for their deeds
will follow them.”
How does God judge ?
What is more important is what
are we doing in the job we are
having now ?
How does God judge ?
What is more important is what are we
doing in the job we are having now.
Was Jesus doing a secular work when
He was a carpenter for 18 years ?
No, Jesus was doing the PERFECT
will of God !!
Ecclesiastes 2:17-26
My BIG BIG Boss is
my Lord Jesus
Christ.