Lightening the Burden of Work

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13  What does the worker gain from his toil?      10  I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12  I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13  That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God.

What does the worker gain from his toil?  Have you ever asked yourself this question?  Maybe while you were on your way home from work or your business, or after an exhausting and busy week.  And maybe after you notice that your take home pay is either just right or not enough to make ends meet.  What do we gain from all this toil?

Solomon was aware of the hard work, and also of the futility of all these toil that we do on earth.  He said in verse 10 that he saw the burden that God has laid on men.  The word used in the King James bible for burden is “travail”, which means “hard work”.

But Solomon also added:  vs11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.  Yes, God may have laid these burdens, these hard work in our lives, but eventually He will make all things beautiful in it’s time.  This reminds me of the old song we used to sing:  “In His time, in His time, He makes all things beautiful in His time”.  Here we see Solomon proclaiming to us the same thing.  Right now we may be burdened with hard work, but eventually we will see the blessing of the Lord – if our lives are truly in His hands.

We may be going through toil and hardship now, earning money through our blood, sweat and tears, but we need to have faith, that God will make all things beautiful in His time.  It’s all in God’s hand.

Romans 8:28  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

But Solomon also reminds us of another important aspect in our life:

11 ...He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

He has set eternity in our hearts.  Deep in the heart of men we know eternity is there.  We may not understand or comprehend it, but it’s there.  We must be careful not to just work for today, but to set our hearts for eternity.  Our hope in Christ is not just to bless us today, but also to prepare us for the day when we will be seeing Him face to face.

People who sin, who do wrong at work, who do things illegally just to get a quick buck – they live only for today.  There are some Christians who compromise their faith, their righteousness, for the same reason – they live only for today.  But someone who live for eternity lives preparing Himself to stand face to face before God.

As we live for eternity, for our Lord, this serves as the foundation for our work.  Why be honest?  Why deal with others righteously?  Why do we give a fair price, or not compromise our faith?  We live for eternity. 

Jesus Himself said:

Matthew 6:19-21  "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Of course we work for money, for we need it to take care of our needs.  But as to how we earn that money, and how and where we spend it, is founded on our storing up treasures in heaven.  When we live for eternity as a foundation of our life everything we do is in preparation for the time we will stand before God face to face.

So what should we be working for?

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13  I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13  That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God.

Solomon said there is nothing better than:

1.  To be happy.  This sounds like a famous line of a politician – “gusto ko happy ka”.  But this is God telling us that He wants us to be happy.  But where does true happiness come from?  Material things?  Possessions?  Position? No.  True Happiness comes from God Himself.  It is our pursuit of God, our devotion to Him, our worship and fellowship with Him, that gives us true happiness.

2.  To do good.  There is nothing else that gives joy to a Christian than doing good.  If doing good is a burden for us, then we’re probably not Christian at all.  Doing good for us should not be an option, but a life that God wants us to be living – always.

3.  That everyone may eat and drink.  It should be as simple as that – that we are eating and drinking. It’s not really about what we are eating and drinking, but that God is providing for our every need, no matter how simple or extravagant it may be.

4.  That we may find satisfaction in all our toil.  Yes, we will still toil.  But it is God who will give us the satisfaction from our work.  There are many who live in the TGIF world (Thank God It’s Friday), when we should be thankful that we have work, and that it is God who has blessed us with the work.  And that our workplace becomes the venue where our trust and faith in God is expressed, and also seen by others.

Yes we may toil, and our work may be burdensome. But if we see God’s hand in our work we will be blessed.  When we know that He will make all things beautiful in His time, when we see that all happiness and satisfaction comes from Him, it lightens the burden and gives us joy and peace in our hearts.  That’s God’s hand in our work.

TWEAKING JEREMIAH 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This is one of the most loved, often quoted and memorized by many Christians today, but also one that has been misunderstood and misapplied by some.  For some reason, when some believers read this verse, they “claim” it to mean that God will meet the desires that they have in their hearts.  And so, when God does not work according to their plans they end up frustrated, unwillingly accepting what God has prepared for them, or even turn away from God.

We need to read the promise carefully.  The Lord did not declare that He knows the plans that we have for ourselves.  It says that God knows the plans that HE HAS FOR US!  And this should make our hearts jump for joy!  Why?

First, God actually has plans for His children.  Yes.  He doesn’t work in our life by chance. He doesn’t move in our life according to the moment.  He doesn’t just work in our lives according to our prayer.  Our holy, righteous, sovereign and loving God actually has plans for us.

Psalm 139:15  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16  your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

He is the author of our life.  He has already made plans for us.  They’re already written in a book.  We just have to trust.  This is why we don’t believe in luck, or in fate.  We believe in a God who knows what His plans are for us.  And they are plans, as He Himself said, “to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

This is where faith comes in.  Because this promise doesn’t mean that it will be all good.  There will be some storms, some bumps on the road, sharp curves even.  But because our lives are in His hands, we trust that they will all work out for good (Romans 8:28).

Jer 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
12  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

It’s when we take that step of faith, knowing that He knows the plans He has for us, that we begin to express the fruit of that faith through prayer, seeking Him with all our hearts, and listening to Him.

Prayer is not just meant to get what we want, but it’s to get what God wants for us.  Faith is not about moving God to do what we want. Faith seeks God with all our heart.  Faith listens to what God has to say about our life.

His plans may not coincide with our own plans.  They might even be the complete opposite!  The point is, are we willing to put our faith in the plans that our Sovereign and Loving King has already made for us?  Or we will still insist on what we want, what we believe is good, for ourselves?

Jeremiah 29:11.  Amen.

THE HIDDEN IDOL – OUR SELF

1 John 5:21  Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

The apostle John ends his first epistle with a simple warning – dear children, keep yourselves from idols.  The NASB translates it “guard yourselves from idols”.  The early New Testament church was surrounded by idolatry in many forms.  Indeed, many of them were converts from the worship of idols.  The apostle Paul, when he wrote to the church in Thessalonica, commended the Christians there and said:

1 Thessalonians 1:9  for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

Idolatry has been man’s folly since time in memorial.  It’s human nature actually.  It is hard to worship a God that we cannot see, without form.  And so we make up forms of God, and in return begin to worship a false God.  God warned the Israelites not to make any idol of Him, for they did not see any form of God at all:

Deuteronomy 4:15-18 NIV84 15 You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.

Even the Israelites had the tendency to make an idol to represent Jehovah their God, a practice being done today in Christianity.  Though the Son of God did become man, when He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven He ceased to have His human form, and is now the God without any human form.  We should not misrepresent God by thinking that up to now He still is in human form.

There are, of course, the idols of other gods.  It is interesting how almost all religions have idols of their God to worship.  As I mentioned earlier it is the folly of man to replace God with a form.  Look what Paul says:

Romans 1:21-23  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

And so, throughout the world, we have gods in human form, animal form, in the form of heavenly bodies, etc.

But the more dangerous idols, that many Christians are guilty of, are those that we cannot see, those that are not connected to any religion.  They are the “gods” in our hearts that take the place of the Lord.  There are two passages of Scripture that warn us of this kind of idolatry:

Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Greed is idolatry.  Material things, money, and whatever else our greed focuses on, are idols of our hearts.  They take the place of God.  When material things, money and others become the source of joy, peace, security and identity of a Christian, then these have become our idols, and we are guilty of idolatry.  We have set them up in the throne of our hearts, and without realizing it we begin to worship them.  When this happens we usually focus on what God gives, rather than on God Himself.  God becomes a means to an end, an instrument we use to worship the real gods in us. No wonder our Lord taught us this:

Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

But there is another idol that many of us don’t realize we still keep and worship in our hearts.

1Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD , he has rejected you as king."

The NASB bible translates it – “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.”

Divination is seeking guidance from another spiritual source, and not from God.  When a person is rebellious, against God or man, it is as if he is seeking guidance from another source – our self.  Instead of seeking wisdom from God and following His ways, we follow our own ways.  This is why rebellion is like the sin of divination.

Why is arrogance, or insubordination, like idolatry?  Because when a person is arrogant, when he is insubordinate, he sets himself above others, above God even.  That’s why it is idolatry – it’s a worship of self.  Submission is an attitude that God expects, that God works, in the heart of every believer.  When we are arrogant or insubordinate, we go against what God is working in our hearts.  We don’t realize we have set up an idol in our hearts that we worship – our SELF.

Our SELF.  Many Christians don’t realize that the throne we have set up for our self needs to be destroyed, and the throne of God must stand uncontested.  And yet how many of us rebel against God when we commit sin, or live without submission to authority, or to the teachings of our Lord?  When we willingly do not follow the ways of God, we are arrogant and rebellious.  Is this the state of heart that is worthy of our holy and righteous God?

When we are rebellious and unsubmissive to human authority, or authority in the church, this is also idolatry, for we have set our self higher than others, and even higher than our Lord.  Submission and humility are attitudes of heart that God purposely works in us.  To go against His working is both disobedience and idolatry.

No wonder dying to our self is a pre-requisite for being a disciple of Christ.  No wonder He asks us to carry our cross daily, and hate even our own lives, to follow Him.  No wonder our Lord stood as our ultimate example of humility, that we too, by His grace, may walk in humility before Him and with other men.

Dear children, guard yourselves from idols.  We are to guard ourselves from greed.  We are to guard ourselves from our self.  All by His grace.

BREAKING OUR SELF-RELIANCE

2 Corinthians 1:8-9  We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
9  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

When you read a passage like this it is good to know that even someone as “great” and accomplished as the apostle Paul also went through hard times.  Sometimes while going through trials and tribulations in life we wonder if God is still with us, or if there was something wrong with us, if we lacked faith or some other reason that caused the problem to come.  But Paul’s explanation was simple – “…this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead”.

Self reliance is one of the major workings of God in our hearts, if not THE major thing He wants worked out of our hearts.  God doesn’t want us trusting in our strength, our wisdom, our understanding.  He wants us relying totally, 100%, on Him.  This is why we struggle, because we naturally lean on ourselves, on our education, what we have learned through life and experience.  But if God is not the One we totally depend on, then He is not God…He is not our God.

In another passage in 2 Corinthians Paul said:

2 Corinthians 4:7  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

God purposely shows us, through our circumstances, that our bodies, our lives, are “jars of clay” – breakable, fragile, things we cannot fully depend on – that we may realize that the power sustaining us through life does not come from us, but from God.

God wants us depending, trusting, and holding on to Him and Him alone.  Not to words, not to teachings, not to principles, but holding on to Him, His presence in our lives.

Psalm 3:3  But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

God does not give us a shield to hold on to…He Himself is our shield.  In the midst of hardship and trouble it is nice to know that He Himself is there with us, and that He will never leave us or forsake us.  He Himself is our shield.

Whatever we are going through, through the tears and cries of our hearts, may we seek Him, and lay all our trust and hope in Him.