Justice and Toil Are Vapor | Ecclesiastes 4:4-8 | 06/21/26

The word work

can sometimes seem like a dirty word in

certain circles.

Perhaps in church settings,

I've seen the word work feel like a

four-letter dirty word.

And

one can see why that would happen. There

has been throughout the history of the

church a theological misunderstanding of

the role of work. And from almost the

very beginning of the church's history,

there have been some people who thought

we really need to do lots of work to

curry God's favor, to earn God's

attention.

And so

from scripture, throughout church

history, time and time again,

we've come to recognize, no, we've we've

learned about grace.

God's grace is such that he has his

favor on us independent of anything that

we do. So this whole work salvation

thing is a clear misunderstanding that

leads to detrimental ramifications. So

we got to get that out of the way. But I

think sometimes there might be some

people who so

focus on that single message, a very

important message, a message I think

still some people today need to hear,

that your labor, your works does not

curry favor with God, that God's grace

comes upon you independent of your work.

Yes, some people need to hear that, but

some people that's the only message of

works that they talked about that we

ignore the rest of scripture and all of

the positive things that it says about

the role of good works in the follower

of Jesus' life. We are supposed to

engage in good works. We just finished a

series in Ephesians where it says we

were created for good works.

And I think that if we just get bogged

down and and worry about this one

problem and obsess about this one work

uh problem that we might start thinking

of work as a bad thing. And and

true story, I I I once heard a sermon by

a pastor

who kept disparaging work to the point

where he said, "You shouldn't love God

because loving God is a kind of work.

Just be loved by God, but don't love

God." And he even said in the same

message, "It's better if you fall asleep

in the in the message because then at

least you're not working." I thought,

"Okay." [laughter]

I I wish this this was hyperbolic, but

Alyssa was there with me, so she can

attest that we actually sat through a

message that said all of this. And I

think part of it is we've worried about

one danger

and it's a legitimate danger with

regards to work that we've now fallen

off the other side of the horse and now

think of work is bad. Now, aside from

church mistakes, I think even in

adults in the working world, we might

think of work as a bad thing.

The A lot of the students I talk to, a

lot of the young people I talk to,

there's a sense where there's a positive

benefit if you retire early.

Is that just me and and my small

parochial subset or is that seem to be

true with a lot of people that that you

meet in the working world? There's a

kind of better

achievement if you can retire early and

then go have a series of yum-yums,

treats. You go on You ask, "Well, what

are you going to do when you retire?"

Well, travel a lot, eat lots of good

foods, experience lots of pleasures.

Somehow that's better off than if you

have to

labor for the rest of your life.

And because of that, I think we start

developing an attitude that thinks of

work as a bad thing. It's this bad but

necessary thing that I have to just just

do, but try to get rid of it as quickly

as I can, and once I'm done with it, now

I can enjoy my real life. Done with

that.

For me, it's like vegetables, right? I

know some people like vegetables, but

basically, if you ever notice my plate,

the vegetables are the first thing to

go. Just just have to get it out of the

way, and then work.

Or and then dessert. Um

Yeah.

I I think this is a mistake.

And I hope that today's passage into

Ecclesiastes

can serve as a corrective for how we

reflect on work. So, we've been going

through the book of Ecclesiastes.

And it's written by this guy who's in

front of an assembly,

and if you if you read through the ESV

translation, which is what we do here at

West Hills, they call this guy the

preacher. So, he's talking to this

assembly. And what we know about this

guy is he's of royal lineage, the son of

David,

and specifically, he's the king in

Jerusalem. So, at the very least, he's a

king of Judah.

So, this king, he's at the top of his

game, the the wealthiest person in the

land, the one who's accomplished the

most.

And all his life, he's been told there

are certain goods

there are certain goods that make your

life worthwhile.

And for the first time, it seems, in his

life, he pauses after a series of

experiences and observations,

and he reflects.

And his reflection is to him quite

shocking.

Because all of these ultimate goods are

to him hevel. We've been using this word

constantly. Just get used to hearing

this word over the next several months.

Hevel is the Hebrew word that means

mist.

When you wake up in the morning and it's

cold outside, you can see the mist. I

remember as a kid thinking I can grab a

hold of it, much like cotton candy, but

every time you try, you can't. You're

grasping at nothing.

And that's what all of these goods seem

to him. He's been told, "Well, filling

your life with pleasure is the reason

why you should get up in the morning."

And so he does that. Ah.

But he's still high and dry. What was

the point of that? Then he thinks,

"Well, well, laboring, toiling,

achieving the most." And so he's

achieved the highest that you can.

Still, nothing.

And he even tries something noble.

"Well, well, maybe if I become the

wisest person." So he seeks after wisdom

and he's attained wisdom and even after

that he says, "I cannot grasp onto it."

These things that I think are

worthwhile, well, in the end,

they won't be remembered, they don't

endure,

and they don't make a difference.

And so he's shaken up. Now, as we've

said multiple times,

there's a difference between things

really mattering and things mattering.

And he recognizes these things don't

really matter. The amount of attention

and time and priority that people have

put to work, pleasure, wisdom,

it wasn't worth it.

But they still might be valuable. And he

seems to be hinting at

there there being valuable. He seems to

understand he will get it later in

Ecclesiastes that he does think actually

being wise is valuable.

And as we'll see today, he he actually

thinks work is valuable. Last time we

talked about his observing troubling

perceptions. He sees injustice,

oppression, and he sees death.

And he finishes by saying, "Well, we

should at least enjoy our work."

And I don't think for him it's a

consolation prize.

I think he actually has a positive view

of work. He just doesn't understand how

it fits in the big picture.

And so today we're going to look at more

of his reflections on work and see what

we as followers of Christ can glean and

what God might be teaching us with

relation to work. So if you have your

Bibles, please turn to Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4.

And we're going to be reading from

verses 4 through 8.

Ecclesiastes chapter 4

Ecclesiastes 4:4–8

verses 4 through 8.

Really short, so I bet you're hoping

this will be a shorter sermon.

>> [snorts]

>> But some of you have met me, so uh

>> [laughter]

[clears throat]

>> All right.

A reading from the book of Ecclesiastes.

Then I saw that all toil

and all skill in work

come from a man's envy of his neighbor.

This also

is vanity

and a striving after wind.

The fool folds his hands and eats his

own flesh.

Better is a handful of quietness

than two hands full of toil and a

striving after wind.

Again,

I saw vanity under the sun.

One person who has no other,

either son or brother,

yet there is no end to all his toil.

And his eyes are never satisfied with

riches,

so that he never asks,

"For whom am I toiling and depriving

myself of pleasure.

This also is vanity

and an unhappy business.

The word of the Lord.

The The Preacher

is struggling here.

And if we were just looking at it from

the Preacher's perspective, we should

share in some of that struggle. And And

I alluded to that last week, especially

with this idea of lament.

But this is not just a text written by

the hand of a man.

It is also a revelation to us by God.

And I think as we who have the whole

revelation of God and we come to these

texts,

we don't have to be as confused, though

there are some things we will certainly

be confused about, but we can see God

speaking to us and showing us good and

valuable things.

And as I've been thinking about this

passage for the last month,

this is what I think God wants us to

know here at West Hills.

That God gave us valuable gifts

of work and friendship.

God is a gift-giver. That is what the

whole Bible

declares to us. And he's given us

something valuable in work and in

friendship. And just because we spoil

God's gifts, we wreck and ruin them,

does not make the gifts any less

valuable. We just have to remember how

to use them, what they're for, how to

engage with them. And so I want us to

think about each one. I want us to think

about the gift of work

and then the gift of friendship.

And then I want us to think about work

us in light of Jesus.

I want us to think about work in light

of the person and work of Jesus. So

let's first start about talking about

the gift of work. Now again, that sounds

like it's a positive thing, but for the

Preacher, he has something negative to

say. So, look at verse 4, and he says,

"I saw that all toil

and all skill in work come from a man's

envy

of his neighbor.

And this is hevel and a striving after

wind." So, just some clarification. He

says, "Looks like everything that

everyone does is out of envy. They're

motivated by envy. They're motivated out

of a sense of rivalry and competition."

One thing to say or two things to say

about that. One, we have to be careful

when when people use the word all or

every.

Because I might say, "Yeah, everyone was

sitting down."

You're like, "Yeah, that that holds for

the most part. It's like generically

true, but I'm not sitting down. There's

tons of people out in the United States

that are not sitting down." But, you

kind of get a sense when I say,

"Everyone's sitting down," it's a kind

of general claim that we're making.

So, he's not

it's not refuting the preacher if

there's one instance or a person who

works not motivated by envy or

competition or rivalry. So, that's

that's one thing to notice. The second

is remember his frame of mind. What did

he just say in the previous passage?

Uh

better to be dead than to be alive.

Better to never have existed than to

live and to die. And as I suggested, I

think the right interpretation for that

is he's having an emotional outburst.

We We can see in other passages of

Ecclesiastes that he doesn't really

believe that.

But, he's having this emotional

outburst. So, I think part of what we're

supposed to read here is when he's

saying, "Everywhere I look, I just see

people motivated out of envy and

competition and rivalry," is part of

this emotional outburst.

And And what is he noticing? It It's

true enough that the stereotype is

holding up. He's looking around at all

of these ambitious people and what are

they doing? They're trying to keep up.

To keep up with the Joneses, so to

speak. There's a sense of this is what

you're supposed to do and everybody has

to go along with it.

And is it any different today?

What motivates our work choices?

I I I've met people who've been promoted

or were seeking promotions and they're

utterly miserable.

And so you ask, well well well why did

you seek that promotion? Well, that's

what you're supposed to do. There's a

kind of failure if you stay in this one

position no matter how much you like it.

This might be your dream job, but if you

leave it, you'll get paid more, you'll

have higher opportunities, more

opportunities to keep rising up in the

ranks, so you're supposed to do it.

To keep up with everybody else? This is

not just in the working world. I see it

amongst parents for their children and

for their schooling.

Where it's we need to send our kids to

the best school. I I was shocked when I

first um came out to the Silicon Valley

10 years ago. We took our kids to a

playground. It was in Saratoga. I didn't

I didn't realize how there are some

places that are super duper nice. And we

we we met families and we started

talking with them and the first thing

they asked

What school? Hey, who said that? Yeah,

thanks, Katie. What school do your kids

go to?

Well, home school. Then they looked at

us like aliens or something like that,

right?

Because it really matters. I I was

shocked to learn because I I see these

public schools that are amazing in the

Silicon Valley. And then I talked to

high-powered um business people and I

ask, well, certainly you must be sending

your kids there. It's just like amazing.

I've met teachers at some of these

schools who are absolutely brilliant.

They say, "No, we we pay an exorbitant

amount to send them to private school

because that's the school that sets them

apart from everybody else. Even if it

costs life and limb. And it will set

them up to go to the best schools."

There's this myth of prestige

that doesn't exist. You just don't

believe me. Just go look for yourself.

College prestige as an undergrad is

truly a myth.

And yet people will

bend over backwards. They'll labor so

hard to ensure that their kids get the

very best so that we keep up with the

Joneses.

And do we do anything different in

church?

Our various ministries. I meet pastors

who keep thinking, "Well, I need to get

more degrees cuz then I'll have a more

impressive resume and then you can call

me Dr. Such-and-Such. And there I'll

finally have the respect that I'm

I'm worth."

We try to keep up because that's what

everybody else does.

And I think

the preacher understands correctly. He

sees it and he says, "Hevel.

What's it worth?

Does it really matter keeping up with

the Joneses? It's all hevel and chasing

wind." I love that language. He doesn't

just say hevel and it's chasing wind

meaning what?

You'll never get there. You'll never

catch it. Keep trying to move up the

ranks. What's the problem?

You'll You'll never be satisfied. Let me

just confess some sin. While I was down

in Southern California and while I was

out in Boston, when you're with

academics who are also moving up the

ranks, it's easy for me to feel the

temptation, "Well, I too should move up

the ranks."

And given where I am

the only way for me to rise up the

ranks, I'd I'd have to leave.

Not to keep moving up.

And I I'll confess, there are times

where I'm thinking, "Oh, that would be

nice." You look at the money that's

being offered, you look at the prestige

and the accolades. I confess,

I desire it a great deal, my precious.

It

If you ever see me do that, throw

something at me. I I mean it, because my

heart is weak. I really feel the desire

and I'm strongly tempted by it. I

actually I was telling Josh this the

other day,

I really do think Ecclesiastes has been

a gift to me, because while I was in

Boston and while I was in um

down in Southern California and I felt

thought, "Yes, then I can move up."

And I thought, "Havel."

Because once I do get it, what will I

want? More. And more and more and I'll

never be satisfied.

What's something that we can glean with

regards to this?

Well, there's an excellent way

of approaching work.

And the word excellence

a historic word for it is virtue.

There's a virtuous way of engaging with

work. You know, some people have called

it the virtue of diligence, but I just

want us to think about what is the

excellent way of engaging in work. And

what the preacher notices is that one

way of spoiling work is to be wrongly

motivated.

And if you're wrongly motivated in order

to keep up with the Joneses,

in order to have a certain status,

well, it's going to spoil work. You're

going to hate it. On the other hand,

if we're rightly motivated,

then our work can be pursued in an

excellent way. There's another thing

about virtue in general.

One one way in which virtue can be

missed

is if you fall into one of two extremes.

The extreme of excess and the extreme of

deficiency. Let me just give you an

example. Courage. Courage is a virtue.

Uh one way you could be missed is if

you're excessive about it. And we say

you'd be

rash. You'd be foolishly rash.

And and one way of being deficient

is that you're cowardly.

So courage is the right balance between

being rash

and being cowardly. Does that kind of

make sense? What's interesting is that

the preacher is going to talk about a

virtue related to work that strikes the

right balance. So look now in verse

verse chapter 5,

the fool holds his hands and eats his

own flesh.

He's talking about

the the

deficiency, the extreme of deficiency.

The person who doesn't work.

So work

might be a good thing, but he remember

he says earlier in chapter 2, he hates

his work.

He hates his work.

And if you hate your work, what's one

thing you could do?

You stop working.

Uh and actually this language of folding

his hands is a proverb idiom. It it it's

an idiom in wisdom literature. If you

read in Proverbs 6 and I believe chapter

24, it's a a way of describing the

sluggard, the lazy person, the person

who doesn't want to work.

So the ex- the deficiency, the extreme

of deficiency here is somebody who

thinks, "Yeah, work is a toil. Maybe one

way of

responding to it is just not doing it at

all."

And I think some people get into that

kind of mode. They become lazy. You can

be lazy physically and you can be lazy

mentally.

Uh technology is a wonderful thing.

Usually when you hear like Christians

and technology, they say something about

technology is a wonderful thing, but it

poses lots of dangers.

You can, if you want, have AI summarize

Romans for you

and give you insights that you probably

wouldn't have gotten if you read it

yourself.

But what a waste

if all you were trying to get was more

cool information and insights from

Romans rather than reading Romans

yourself.

We engage in political discourse,

but nobody's ever read the great

political thinkers.

Nobody reads Aristotle or Machiavelli or

Hobbes or Locke or Rawls, but then we

have like strong political opinions.

We're not scientists, but then we become

epidemiologists when viruses start

spreading. We become experts rather than

pausing

and doing the hard labor.

It's odd to me that there are Christians

who will fight to the death the

inerrancy of scripture, and then I ask

them, "Well, how often do you read the

Bible?"

Crickets.

We have the wrong kind of approach. It's

a slothful approach.

Easier to go on to social media and

YouTube and have people describe what

Christian beliefs are rather than going

to the source that you've been giving,

and this will be a slog. It will be

laborious. Just finished Second

Chronicles. Laborious, right? Uh going

through Nehemiah, laborious.

And yet you get

to commune with God

and receive his revelation that goes

beyond what AI or someone else can give

you, but you commune with the spirit who

brings us and confers on us wisdom and

transforms us into likeness of Christ.

That kind of sloth has no place in the

life of the Christian. And and notice

the language, and that person will eat

his own flesh. That that's hyperbolic.

Remember, he's having an emotional

outburst. But it will be

self-destructive.

Humans don't live

by bread alone, but on

every word that proceeds

from God's mouth.

You'll starve

if you don't read this.

But but we want our Cheetos.

A steak is offered to you. Filet mignon.

And you're [snorts] settling for

Cheetos? That's my AI.

I hate Cheetos. That's why I had to pick

something. I hate

uh

God is offering you so much. I I know

work can be hard.

And yet God is offering more. Don't be

the slothful lazy person. So that's the

extreme of deficiency. Notice though

that the preacher understands the other

problem. Read [snorts] in verse six.

Better is a handful of quietness than

two hands full of toil and striving

after wind.

He's

intimidating the extreme of excess. He

says, "Hey, but it Don't forget. Don't

forget." So laziness and slothfulness is

bad, but don't forget better to have two

handfuls of rest

than one handful of work.

Who's he talking to?

The workaholic.

The workaholic. Well,

I recognize that work is good, and I

don't want to be like the slothful lazy

person. So I'll work work work, and

being a working person who works till I

drop is the good life.

He says, "No.

Better to have two handfuls of rest.

We were not built

designed to engage in work.

At creation, there was a day bequeathed

upon humans to do what God did and to

rest.

Rest is supposed to be built in to the

pattern of the follower of God.

And I think some of us

we engage too much in work. And I And I

don't just mean having an occupation,

though some people might have to rethink

and reevaluate their occupation.

Of work work work. There's a kind of

badge of honor when you ask, "How are

you doing?" that someone will respond

and say, "I'm busy."

Somehow we'd be embarrassed to say,

"Well, I spent all day with my family

and I spent most of the day just in

silence and solitude praying to God."

Like, great. What a what a wonderful way

to spend your time.

We want to work work work. We work for

our children. We We freak out if our

children aren't getting the best

education, so we labor ourselves

forgetting to rest.

We plan our vacations. This This is

And keep confessing sin. I'm such a

scheduler that our vacations have to

have a schedule. And I'll freak out if

we didn't do the correct 20 minutes time

of getting our coffee and affogato right

here and we missed our time.

Because even our rest can become

laborious

and so we spoil it.

How should we think about this as we do

what the preacher invites us to do,

which is after having a series of

observations, reflecting? We can spoil

work by being wrongly motivated, by

doing this out of a sense of keeping up

with the status quo.

We can do it poorly by becoming lazy and

slothful, or we can be do it poorly by

becoming workaholics.

And before we think about this in light

and his person and work, let's just

think about this for ourselves. As you

engage in work, what motivates you in

your work?

Is it because that's just what everybody

does?

Is that a good enough reason?

Is it to get ahead

so that you can stand out better than

the rest?

Are you being slothful?

I I think we [snorts] might think we're

inclined

to be workaholics in the Silicon Valley.

I meet people say, "I'm super duper

busy." And then they tell me of all the

TV shows and movies they've watched.

>> [laughter]

>> And somehow we think oh the the current

generation with their doom scrolling is

bad. They're just constantly on their

phone. Do you know what the average

amount of TV viewing was back in the

'80s and '90s?

3 to 5 hours.

So, it's not as though things have

changed. It's just the devices have

changed.

But we are slothful.

And some of us are workaholics.

And I'd invite you to do what God

invites us to do. Think of the gift of

work. Work is actually a good thing.

That doesn't mean it's never tough.

Work is a toil. But notice if you enjoy

your work, you don't mind the toil.

My kids enjoy running laps when they

prepare for soccer. Even though I'm

going to run them hard. Right, to the

point where they're going to collapse,

maybe vomit. This is terrible, right? Uh

Those who can't do coach, right? So this

is this is my my view of coaching.

But they don't mind. I ask you, "Hey

Clara, was that really hard?" She's

like, "I want more."

But then when it comes to doing math,

I'm like, "Well,

you

If you really see the value of your

work, you're willing to engage in the

toil. I love reading certain books in

their original language, but it's a toil

learning declensions. It's a toil

learning conjugations. And then having

to go through them, but then the

pleasure the pleasure of being able to

read these things is just wonderful. So

if if you start thinking of gift of work

as a gift, I think we'll change our

attitude and our orientation. All right,

I want us to now think about the value

of friendship. But the way that we're

going to get there, the gift of

friendship, is by the preachers

recognizing another thing that can spoil

work. So, read verses 7 and parts of 8.

Again, I saw vanity under the sun. One

person who has no other, either son or

brother,

yet there is no end to all his toil, and

his eyes are never satisfied with

riches.

What does he see as a passing thing?

He sees somebody who is lonely.

There are a lot of reasons why someone

might be lonely. Though I I I think we

have to recognize loneliness is not a

good thing. It is a bad thing.

In fact,

I believe this because scripture and

theological reasons, but there's a lot

of medical and psychological support

that corroborates how bad loneliness is.

It has mental health effects, it has

physical health effects.

And the Some people, they're lonely not

through any fault of their own, maybe

through structural problems and systemic

problems, but here the preacher is

noting a reason one reason why someone

is dealing with loneliness, and what is

it?

They're engaged in never-ending toil,

and their eyes are never satisfied with

riches. This is the workaholic who's

motivated

on the basis of greed.

Just wants more.

And the preacher recognizes this is

very, very bad.

Let me say something that's going to

sound controversial at first, and I

assure you it's not.

God

is not sufficient

for our human life.

Before you throw the tomatoes, let me

tell you why I believe that.

Because God

told us that.

God created paradise for a human.

As ideal as can be, where that human can

have

sustained intimate relationship with

God. And then out of the mouth of God,

God says what? It is not good for the

Adam to be

alone.

That means God designed us

for human relationship.

It was all part of the design plan.

I I'm sure God could have made creation

in all sorts of way. It's interesting.

We have to We have to understand

creation as God made it, not as I want

it to be. And the way that God made

creation is that we were meant to be in

community. It's why it's one of our core

values. We didn't invent it. Why isn't

our core value just worship? If all

we're supposed to do is just unite

ourselves to God, our only core value

should be worship.

But we've included community and mission

because when we see the testimony of all

of scripture, we were meant to be

together.

And this is why it's bad if you let work

spoil your relationships with each

other.

Because all you do is work, never-ending

toil. All you do is try to gain more and

more and more. The person who will be

promoted. But that means long hours,

sure more money, and you think, "Well,

we'll be able to do more." But then I

never see my family. I never see my

friends.

What gives? Something has become

perverse in our understanding of work is

it if it has taken away the good things

that God has given to us. And one of the

great gifts that God has given to us is

friendship.

We were meant to love and relate to each

other.

>> [sighs]

>> And it would be a good thing for us to

do what the preacher does,

which is to step back

and reflect. And and look at the very

end of verse 8.

I think some of us should do this.

He says, "So some never ask,

for whom am I toiling and depriving

myself of pleasure?

This also is vanity and an unhappy

business." Why are you doing the work

that you're doing?

Who's it for?

Is it out of love for someone

in your family,

your friends? And ultimately, as as we

see, our primary motivation for all of

our work should be love of God and love

of others.

Or we're heavily engaged in our work,

our never-ending toil, because it

advances our career.

And I think the preacher

cautions us, but despite the caution, we

can see what God is telling us.

That work is a gift,

and friendship is a gift. And I want to

conclude to now think about work

in light

of Christ,

the person of Christ and the work of

Christ.

And let's first think about

what work means now that Christ has

come.

Here's a shocking thing

that I hope you know, because

it's not okay for us as Christians, in

avoiding work salvation, to disparage

work.

Because Christ

and the apostles told us that we are

co-workers

with God.

God has invited you to labor with Jesus.

I think if we grew up in the church,

it's like, "Yeah, whatever."

Do you hear how insane that is?

It's more insane than Steph Curry

saying, "Hey Eric, come join the Golden

State Warriors."

Right? Or the World Cup men's soccer

team saying, "Oh, our our star player's

injured. Eric, get out here. We saw you

coach your kids. You must be really

good, right?"

I mean, it'd be insane. We would have

definitely lost if if I was on the team.

And yet, that's what Christ has done. He

called you. Look at you. Look at me.

You know, I think there's this

ultra-pious thing that some people like

to say. They say something like, it was,

you know, after someone's

thanked somebody, they go, "It was all

God. It was all God. God did it all."

I mean, A, that's false. But B, if God

did it, it would have been way better,

right?

Yeah, honestly. Like, if you thank me

for my sermon, and if I say, "God did it

all." God would have given a better

sermon. We know that. I was a preacher,

it's hard. I just finished Matthew 5-7 a

couple weeks ago. I was like, "How do

How do you rank compared to Jesus when

it comes to preaching?"

If God did this, this message would have

been better.

But I did it. Because for whatever weird

reason, God called me. God called Josh.

God called Scott.

Who? What worldly wisdom would have

chosen the three of us and go, "Yeah,

that's the team." Right?

But our Lord did.

Despite our weakness.

And God called you.

To be our brothers and sisters, that we

would be the church planted here

to serve each other and to serve our

surroundings, despite our weaknesses and

our deficiencies.

The traditional word for this

is dignity.

What a dignified task that we get to be

co-laborers

with Christ.

Now, just to clarify, there are some

things we can't do, right? We can't do.

We can't make reconciliation with the

Father. We can't pay the debt that we

owe God. Only Christ can. So, please

don't misunderstand that. We do need

that caveat because there will be some

people who do misunderstand things.

Well, I got to make sure I have God's

favor. For whatever reason, God called

us while we were enemies to become his

friends and to invite us into

partnership with what he is doing. But,

now he has done so and we all get to do

it. We are building for his kingdom and

I hope you see the dignity of your work,

not on the basis of how much you get

paid, not on the basis of how early you

get to retire, not on the basis of

keeping up with the status quo. You get

the dignity of co-laboring with Jesus.

The stuff curry of ministry, right? The

best of the best. And even better.

How unbelievable is that?

Now, the nice thing, just to fill it

out, is you're not doing it on your own

strength.

This is why the New Testament is so

helpful for the full

the full revelation of what God wants us

to do. He's given us his spirit.

So, you do have wisdom and strength to

do the task, however imperfectly,

because Christ is with you, united to

you in his Holy Spirit.

But, I do hope that you start seeing of

your work as a dignified work.

And as I said last last week,

when an architect is having the

construction folks do what appear to be

menial tasks, but you put it all

together and now you have this beautiful

house, your task might seem small and

menial, but put it all together, the

labor of the church, and you get a

beautiful, glorious thing. And

specifically, what we get is the

foundations for the kingdom which Christ

will complete and finish at his return.

We're preparing a home for God here in

the new heavens and the new earth.

This is why we can say our labor is not

in vain when we do work in the Lord.

Does that mean the work will be easy?

No. This is why Paul in chapter uh

1 Corinthians chapter 15 has to have has

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

to say, "Be steadfast, immovable, always

abounding in the work of the Lord." Cuz

it's going to be hard. And you're going

to want to give up. Doing children's

ministry with baby screaming at you is

hard work. Karen gave me a very strong

nod, right? That's hard. Organizing when

everybody has busy schedules is hard

work. Doing this when you have tinnitus

or other impairments is hard work. I'm

not saying it's going to be easy.

What I am saying is what we know

is it will be dignified work because

Christ has called you to it.

And here's the second thing.

The dignified status

of being friends

of God.

There's a lot of images between our

regarding our relationship with God.

There's the parent and the child,

the husband and the wife,

the suzerain and the vassal, the king

and the subjects,

property owner and the tenants.

Well, one

image that scripture gives us is

friendship.

We are invited to be friends with

Christ.

I I think when we're motivated to get

ahead and to keep up with the Joneses,

we're searching to be on the inside, the

inner ring, the inner circle. We finally

made it.

There's no better circle to be a part of

than the circle of Jesus' followers.

That's the best. And what's great about

this is it's open to all, which is why

we evangelize and tell everybody

the reach of the cross is for all. We

want people in. It is not an exclusive

group. It is the maximally inclusive

group. Why should we let the world with

their political agendas

capture inclusion? We as the church

should be the most inclusive place

because Christ wants all to be part of

his body. And so we want them to come in

and have the dignity of being Jesus'

friends.

Notice what that means then. When we

when we labor, we do it with our friend

Jesus.

And this feels like this should be a

Sunday school lesson, right? We get to

do things with our friend Jesus. But

that is true.

Work with your friends is so wonderful.

It makes the work less taxing

because you get to do it

together.

Well, working with Jesus, recognizing

that Jesus is the one who labors with

you as your friend, who is united with

you. He even promised that.

And he will be with you for how long?

Till the end of tax season?

Until the end of the ages.

Jesus is with you.

This also means there's something unique

about this group here.

Because this is the group of the members

of Christ's body.

That means there's a privilege of

belonging to this group.

Is this the group of smartest people?

The group of most athletic people? The

group with the most um influence over

the world, over the corporate world, the

political world?

No.

But this is the group whose head is

Christ, and we are members of Christ's

body, and our work is being

organized

and impacted by our head, Jesus.

This This means

your friendship means more to me than

other friendship because you're Jesus'

friends.

I have friends outside the church. I

love doing fun things with them. I'm

part of the hot food group at work. We

just love going out and eating spicy

food here in San Jose. It's one of my

favorite groups to belong to.

And yet that is not the privileged group

because they are not members of Christ's

body. You are.

That means our labor together

will have far more ramifications than I

can understand. Because in our labor

together, we're laboring for Christ and

with Christ.

And so I hope that changes the way that

you think about work.

And here's the beautiful thing about

Jesus' friendship with us.

Because we learn in John

John 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15,

what does friendship include?

It includes intimate knowledge.

It includes knowing the person's plans.

And that's what Jesus says.

I've revealed these things to you.

They know things that they couldn't know

unless they were Jesus' close pals.

And third, what does Jesus say?

That friends are willing to lay down

their lives

for their friends.

And that's what Jesus does for you and

for me.

As our intimate friend, he does the one

work that nobody in this building can

do,

which is to lay down one's life

to make atonement,

to justify us, and to reconcile us to

the Father.

You have a friend who did that for you

while you were undeserving and an enemy

of God.

And that is why we get to have

friendship. And so I hope now, as you

think about today, tomorrow, this week,

your relationship with work, your work

is not just so that you can get ahead.

Your work is so that you would love God

more and love each other more

participating in what Christ is doing.

Christ is at work. I know for some

people doing evangelism is scary. Like,

"Oh, I'm doing it by myself." Two

things. One, don't do it by yourself.

There are people who do it in groups. Go

in groups. Second,

there have been things happening before

you even get there. I love that mature

missionaries and evangelists all say,

"Before I ever walked into that group,

God and Christ were at work."

Christ is already working. He goes

before you. So, whatever labor that you

do, Christ is already laboring and the

joy is that you get to participate in

that labor with your BFF. He's invited

you to be his BFF.

And I hope that motivates you. And so, I

challenge you.

This might lead some of you

need to rethink why you're working.

Some of you

need to work harder.

And some of you need to rest more.

But above all, I hope that what we see

in our work is not so that we get ahead,

but it is an opportunity for us to be

with our friend Jesus, to love God more

with our whole heart, soul, mind, and

strength, and to love each other as

ourselves. Let's pray.