Vanity of vanities! Have you ever had a day when you are tempted to say that? I know I have. They actually come around pretty frequently. There are some days when I leave the office and close the door behind me very carefully. Like you would make sure the unruly dog stays in its pen, I am stepping away from some temptations, some frustrations, some sort of turmoil. Vanity of vanities! Sufficient for the day is the trouble thereof! Thorns and thistles! Yes, there are some days when everything seems to be going well. You're at the top of your game. You're riding the wave. You are ten feet tall and bulletproof. There are some of those days. Then there are days that don't lead themselves to any sort of exclamation. We probably have a lot of those. But then there are those exceptional days. You close the office door on the way out. You try to lay down your troubles on the way home from work. You have the feeling there are monsters chasing you. Like that dream we've all had - running away from something but your legs won't move - the day's troubles are going to dog you. Vanity of vanities! Why did I ever bother to get up this morning! Is that what I've been working for? Did I knock myself out so I could miss that promotion? Did I try to lead my team to excellence so they could all be laid off? Did I learn to teach this subject so my students could utterly fail to get it? Did I learn conflict resolution so that guy could punch me in the face?
This is the problem that faces "the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastes 1.1, ESV). It doesn't make sense that the righteous do their work, that they labor and toil and then what they produce will go to someone else. It doesn't make sense that we struggle through this life which is full of thorns and thistles and then we die. This is the kind of situation that would lead him to despair. It is the kind of life that leaves us hopeless. We want to do great things. We want to solve world hunger. We want to keep the neighborhood safe from crime. We all want to be above average, all the time. We want people to be grateful for what we have been doing. All these are good things. But do you see what I see? We want, we want, we want, we want. And in all this wanting, all this striving, all this being busy about doing the things we can do, we see in chapter 2 verse 23 that we have days full of sorrow, work that is vexing, nights that are not restful. We have vanity, and we have it in a big way. It's striving after the wind. We may think we caught it, but just like when we captured fresh sunshine in a shoebox, once we put it in the closet and opened it later, it wasn't there. I thought I caught the wind once. Took it home. All I had was air. It's vanity. And it seems no matter how early I get to work, how hard I work, how tired I am when I come home, how many people I yell at, how many people I don't yell at, it all adds up to a big fat zero. I get my paycheck, at least I hope I do, but that's really all spent by the time I pay for a place to live, some clothes, food, and a few other things. I could always do with more. None of it is satisfying. It's all vanity.
So where's the purpose in this? You might be sitting there wondering where I'm going with this. It's a pretty negative message, right? You may as well have stayed in bed. Oops, more vanity there. But there is a purpose, and that's the purpose that the author of Ecclesiastes gets to in chapter 2, starting in verse 24. We read it earlier but I want to read it again. "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" (ESV).
Here's our fulfillment. It's the fulfilling life that our Lord Jesus Christ has given us. As we pray in the Lord's Prayer, we look to Jesus for our daily bread. And as we look to him we see the forgiveness of sins he has provided through his blood shed on our behalf. We see he has appointed us with work to do every day. We see that he has commanded us to go and love our neighbors as ourselves. We see that he has promised to be with us always, wherever we are. We see that our Lord has given us a life and that our lives are in community with other people.
What are we doing in our daily work but providing the needs of our neighbor, as the Lord is using our neighbors to provide for our needs? What are we doing in our daily work but doing the works that our Lord wishes to do in and through us? In short, what are we doing in our daily work other than being God's hands here on earth? Does this give you any perspective? It does me.
Let's take that idea and put some flesh and bones on it. Maybe you spent time among a group of Christians who were like the ones I used to worship with. They were very mission-minded. They were very enthusiastic in their evangelistic outreach. They were very warm in their demonstrations in worship. The seemed very vivid in their attempts to live out their faith. And week after week we were told that we should have jobs, good jobs, so as to earn money and be able to go and do the real work of the ministry. We would have an occupation so as to provide for us to do the vocation God gave us. As a result, the people who were really serious about serving God would always go into pastoral ministry. The rest of the people would try to earn money so as to support the work of the really dedicated Christians. There was another group of people, sort of a second tier of Christians, who would work at their jobs and then engage in street ministry or save their vacation time to go on mission trips. Now there's nothing wrong with serving the Lord in pastoral ministry. There's nothing wrong with dedicating some of your financial resources to enabling others in ministry. There's nothing wrong with going on mission trips and engaging in other service in the name of Christ. Quite the contrary. Those are all very good things. But there's something wrong with the overall pattern. Did you catch what's wrong with it?
Christ never called you to do anything outside of his grace. Our Lord has never appointed us to any tasks that are not his hands reached out to this world. Jesus who is with us always is with us when we are sweeping the floor. He is with us when we are cleaning the window. He is with us when we are unclogging the toilet or taking out the trash. He is with us when we are screwing part A into panel C. He is with us when we are answering the phone in the office. He is with us when we are fixing the telephone line. All that our Lord has given us to do is his work, his ministry, loving and serving our neighbor.
So we see that our enjoyment comes not from what our toil brings us. Our enjoyment comes from the work we are doing. Why are we doing it anyway? As Christians we are working for Christ. We are serving in His kingdom, being His hands and feet, providing people with their daily bread, showing them the mercy that our Lord wishes to show. Our benefit from our labor comes in the fact that we are serving our Lord. Our benefit from our labor comes in the fact that we are able to love our neighbor. Our benefit from our labor comes in the fact that our Lord has appointed the labor for us. God gives us what we need, but he gives it to us through other people. Likewise, our Lord uses us to give others what they need. This is a deeply spiritual service. It is the heart of Christian vocation.
Maybe the Lord gives us some days that we see only the thorns and thistles in our lives. Maybe he gives us those days as a special ministry of mercy, bringing us to repentance. Maybe the Lord wants us to realize a bit of how rough life would be for those we are to love and serve if we weren't there doing our duty. Maybe the Lord wants us to realize how life would be if we had no hope of salvation in him. Wouldn't life be futile without knowing that Jesus is there with us? Just think, if the only thing you received for your labor was a piddly little paycheck and a tired body. But that is not the hope our Lord has given us. No, while we are getting that little paycheck and the tired body we are doing our Lord's work. We are loving and serving our neighbor. Vanity is the last thing in the world to describe that. We are given the privilege of sharing the riches of God in Christ with the world. Now that's work. That's what brings enjoyment. "To the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy." Blessed be the name of the Lord, who has appointed us our daily work.
This is the problem that faces "the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastes 1.1, ESV). It doesn't make sense that the righteous do their work, that they labor and toil and then what they produce will go to someone else. It doesn't make sense that we struggle through this life which is full of thorns and thistles and then we die. This is the kind of situation that would lead him to despair. It is the kind of life that leaves us hopeless. We want to do great things. We want to solve world hunger. We want to keep the neighborhood safe from crime. We all want to be above average, all the time. We want people to be grateful for what we have been doing. All these are good things. But do you see what I see? We want, we want, we want, we want. And in all this wanting, all this striving, all this being busy about doing the things we can do, we see in chapter 2 verse 23 that we have days full of sorrow, work that is vexing, nights that are not restful. We have vanity, and we have it in a big way. It's striving after the wind. We may think we caught it, but just like when we captured fresh sunshine in a shoebox, once we put it in the closet and opened it later, it wasn't there. I thought I caught the wind once. Took it home. All I had was air. It's vanity. And it seems no matter how early I get to work, how hard I work, how tired I am when I come home, how many people I yell at, how many people I don't yell at, it all adds up to a big fat zero. I get my paycheck, at least I hope I do, but that's really all spent by the time I pay for a place to live, some clothes, food, and a few other things. I could always do with more. None of it is satisfying. It's all vanity.
So where's the purpose in this? You might be sitting there wondering where I'm going with this. It's a pretty negative message, right? You may as well have stayed in bed. Oops, more vanity there. But there is a purpose, and that's the purpose that the author of Ecclesiastes gets to in chapter 2, starting in verse 24. We read it earlier but I want to read it again. "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" (ESV).
Here's our fulfillment. It's the fulfilling life that our Lord Jesus Christ has given us. As we pray in the Lord's Prayer, we look to Jesus for our daily bread. And as we look to him we see the forgiveness of sins he has provided through his blood shed on our behalf. We see he has appointed us with work to do every day. We see that he has commanded us to go and love our neighbors as ourselves. We see that he has promised to be with us always, wherever we are. We see that our Lord has given us a life and that our lives are in community with other people.
What are we doing in our daily work but providing the needs of our neighbor, as the Lord is using our neighbors to provide for our needs? What are we doing in our daily work but doing the works that our Lord wishes to do in and through us? In short, what are we doing in our daily work other than being God's hands here on earth? Does this give you any perspective? It does me.
Let's take that idea and put some flesh and bones on it. Maybe you spent time among a group of Christians who were like the ones I used to worship with. They were very mission-minded. They were very enthusiastic in their evangelistic outreach. They were very warm in their demonstrations in worship. The seemed very vivid in their attempts to live out their faith. And week after week we were told that we should have jobs, good jobs, so as to earn money and be able to go and do the real work of the ministry. We would have an occupation so as to provide for us to do the vocation God gave us. As a result, the people who were really serious about serving God would always go into pastoral ministry. The rest of the people would try to earn money so as to support the work of the really dedicated Christians. There was another group of people, sort of a second tier of Christians, who would work at their jobs and then engage in street ministry or save their vacation time to go on mission trips. Now there's nothing wrong with serving the Lord in pastoral ministry. There's nothing wrong with dedicating some of your financial resources to enabling others in ministry. There's nothing wrong with going on mission trips and engaging in other service in the name of Christ. Quite the contrary. Those are all very good things. But there's something wrong with the overall pattern. Did you catch what's wrong with it?
Christ never called you to do anything outside of his grace. Our Lord has never appointed us to any tasks that are not his hands reached out to this world. Jesus who is with us always is with us when we are sweeping the floor. He is with us when we are cleaning the window. He is with us when we are unclogging the toilet or taking out the trash. He is with us when we are screwing part A into panel C. He is with us when we are answering the phone in the office. He is with us when we are fixing the telephone line. All that our Lord has given us to do is his work, his ministry, loving and serving our neighbor.
So we see that our enjoyment comes not from what our toil brings us. Our enjoyment comes from the work we are doing. Why are we doing it anyway? As Christians we are working for Christ. We are serving in His kingdom, being His hands and feet, providing people with their daily bread, showing them the mercy that our Lord wishes to show. Our benefit from our labor comes in the fact that we are serving our Lord. Our benefit from our labor comes in the fact that we are able to love our neighbor. Our benefit from our labor comes in the fact that our Lord has appointed the labor for us. God gives us what we need, but he gives it to us through other people. Likewise, our Lord uses us to give others what they need. This is a deeply spiritual service. It is the heart of Christian vocation.
Maybe the Lord gives us some days that we see only the thorns and thistles in our lives. Maybe he gives us those days as a special ministry of mercy, bringing us to repentance. Maybe the Lord wants us to realize a bit of how rough life would be for those we are to love and serve if we weren't there doing our duty. Maybe the Lord wants us to realize how life would be if we had no hope of salvation in him. Wouldn't life be futile without knowing that Jesus is there with us? Just think, if the only thing you received for your labor was a piddly little paycheck and a tired body. But that is not the hope our Lord has given us. No, while we are getting that little paycheck and the tired body we are doing our Lord's work. We are loving and serving our neighbor. Vanity is the last thing in the world to describe that. We are given the privilege of sharing the riches of God in Christ with the world. Now that's work. That's what brings enjoyment. "To the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy." Blessed be the name of the Lord, who has appointed us our daily work.
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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogger.com
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