[Ecc 3:15-22] Nothing's Better For A Man..(LIM)

 

THERE IS NOTHING BETTER FOR A MAN THAN TO ENJOY HIS WORK

Sermon by Rev. John C. Lim

Ecclesiastes 3:15-22

15 Whatever is has already been, 
       and what will be has been before; 
       and God will call the past to account.  

16 And I saw something else under the sun: 
       In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, 
       in the place of justice—wickedness was there. 

17 I thought in my heart, 
       "God will bring to judgment 
       both the righteous and the wicked, 
       for there will be a time for every activity, 
       a time for every deed." 

18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?" 

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

Solomon looked at life with some introspection and came to realize that indeed life is meaningless without God in the equation.  Circle of life or seasons of life is really series of events seamlessly connected through time that tells the unique story.  As we look at our own life thus far, we can see how we’ve come along in this journey of life.  From birth till now, we are our best witnesses to this timeless truth that our finite life would be utterly meaningless without the acknowledgment of God.  Many people in our world refuse to recognize God and think those who believe in God are somehow intellectually deficient or even ignorant and illogical.  However, nothing could be further from truth.  The more we wonder at the universe, the more we are puzzled in how all things came to be.  Without the Creator, we would only have chaos.  Yet, men refuse to recognize and acknowledge God who has weaved all things into existence with His Word. 

Solomon in his extraordinary wisdom continues to make keen observations and attempts to find meaning in life with God in the mix.  He contemplates in verse 15, the ultimate end for all men.

     Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

In the first part of this verse, he repeats the notion that life is cyclical.  Basically, there is nothing new under the sun.  Everything we see in our world came from what existed before and when everything is said and done, all that we see will eventually turn to dust.  There is truly nothing new in our world.  However in the second part, Solomon brings out how God will call the past to account. 

Our life here on earth is not a random series of events without consequences.  Many in our world would like to believe this in order to evade their personal responsibility and accountability.  They seem to believe that we are our own masters and that we are not accountable to any deity or supernatural beings and that we will basically cease to exist when we die and that is all there is to it.  Many well known scientists and famous thinkers of our time perpetuate this idea that we live and die by our karma.  In their mind, there is no God and there is no heaven.  If there is heaven then, we would all be in it according to their myopic thinking since that offends no one and seems to be full of compassion.  It sounds quite attractive and popular with majority of the people in our world.  In their mind, there is no harm in this way of thinking to believe this way.  Their emphasis is to live meaningful and productive life and pass on from this world to the unknown world that may or may not await us.  The core flaw in that kind of thinking is the exultation of man above all.  Christians believe that we are all ultimately accountable to God but these people only believe in mutual accountability to one another.  However, when we die, we are not held accountable to anyone, they would argue.  In their thinking, we are not accountable to any deity or God but only to one another while we live. 

This is the reason that we are to adhere to conservation and environmental ideals such as being sensitive to global warming and doing everything we can in reducing our carbon footprint.  After all, we are our own gods and determine our own destiny for better or for worse.  They do not believe in external factors that are far beyond our control.  They credit us with greater power and influence than we really deserve or merit as if we by our common united effort, can thwart natural disasters from taking place.  As foolish as it may sound, more people are drawn to this thinking because this notion empowers them.  For those who are not willing to acknowledge the omnipotent God, they have to find some kind of substitute.  The Bible tells us in Hebrew 9:27 contrary to what we would like to think, we are indeed accountable to God.  

    Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

When our journey here on earth comes to an end, we will face judgment whether we like it or not. 

Ecclesiastes 3:15 tells us that what we do is really inconsequential in grand scheme of things.  We can build and tear down but in the end, nothing has really changed.  Whatever is has been before and what will be has been before.  That does deflate our ego somewhat but that is what Solomon came to realize.  
 
In the second part of this verse, Solomon calmly remind us that we are held accountable to God someday.  This is somewhat sobering thought.  God will call our past to account.  For all that we have done, there is a time and place when God will open the book to account for the entirety of our life here on earth.  If that thought does not make us stay up at night, I don’t know what could.  In light of this thought, let us look quickly at the following verse 16.

     And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

Often times, we encounter people who question how God can allow catastrophic events to take place as if God should prevent things from happening at our bidding.  Solomon tells us that under the sun, many things take place that we might not find pleasant or acceptable to us.  We can attest to this in our world today. Natural disasters of catastrophic magnitude take place annually.  Wars among nations result in countless number of people without places to live.  Genocide takes place even today in faraway places where we do not see the ruthless violence that takes place every day.  Look around and see how wickedness exists rampantly.  From evil dictators to crooked politicians who would sell out at a moment’s notice for personal gain, our world is fraught with these kind of events and people.  We might say, “Wait a minute, I thought God was in control.”   Indeed God is in control but in our world, these seeming contradictions coexist in harmony.  Our world is full of righteous and unrighteous.  Our world is full of goodness and wickedness.  Our world is full of justice and injustice.  But Solomon goes to explain in verse 17.

     I thought in my heart, "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed."

There is an appointed time when God will judge all things.  Contrary to what some may believe, we are accountable to God whether we acknowledge this or not.  Just as silly as it may be to deny the existence of sun in light of what we can see and the warmth of what we can feel, it is silly to deny the existence of God just because we are obstinate and refuse to acknowledge His presence because we chose to replace Him with ourselves.  Just because God does not respond instantly when wickedness seems to prevail in our world, does not mean that God is ignoring injustice.  Judgment day is coming but people are not paying serious attention.  Unlike the justice of man, God’s justice is more comprehensive and complete.  We might say, His justice is perfect without a single flaw.  In our world today, in spite of human effort to bring justice to bear, some walk away though guilty.  But when God sits in His judgment seat, not a single guilty one will escape His perfect justice. Who will be our advocate on that day when we stand before God?  For those who believe in God’s provision for our forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, He will be our advocate taking our place.

Jesus Christ is the perfect Lamb of God who shed His blood on the cross to cleanse us from our guilt ridden estate.  Through Jesus Christ, we have been reconciled to God.  God deems us not guilty because of His Son, Jesus Christ who died on the cross.  We did not earn this through our god works or our righteous living but solely on the work of Christ.  One day when we stand before God, all our sins will be uncovered and recounted.  As our heads hang low unable to offer one word of defense to counter perfect justice of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will defend us as we trusted in His righteousness.  But for those who have not accepted God’s love shown us through His Son, Jesus Christ, there will not be an Advocate for them.  They stand on their own merit and will surely be found guilty and sent to hell for eternity.  On that day, their good works here on earth will mean absolutely nothing in light of all the sins they have been found guilty of.  Only the blood of Christ will cleanse us from all sins.  And when we cannot claim the blood of Jesus, we have no recourse but to fall to eternal judgment and condemnation. 

Solomon continues to observe our true nature in verse 18. 

    I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.

If we thought somehow we were better than animals, here is a crushing pronouncement on that view.  We are like the animals.  Think about this for a while.  Our fallen nature beckons us to live according to our flesh not spirit.  We must constantly subjugate our body to higher calling in life.  We struggle against the flesh daily.  Basic human needs bring to bear our most basic instinct to survive and exist.  When we watch nature programs through Discovery or National Geographic programs, are we not seeing ourselves in those wild beasts?  Basic human drama we encounter in our own lives is seen through those animals.  As we view these animals in the wild, we are surprised how uniquely human some of those activities are.  Indeed we share some common traits with animals in the wild.  Solomon goes further in the next several verses explaining what he means by this.  Look at verses 19-21.

    Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.  All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.  Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?

The breath of life or the gift of life is common to animals as well as to humans.  With the breath of life we live in this world alongside the animals.  We are made from the dust of the earth and when that final breath of life departs, we return to dust as the animals.  Animals live on this earth to survive and procreate.  We also live to survive and procreate.  As much as we would like to believe that we are so much nobler than the animals, when we are left to our own basic instincts, we are not all that different from the wild animals.  But because we are made in God’s image, we do have nobler calling than the animals.  We have been given the privilege to establish a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  No other creatures have been given the same privilege.  Only man alone can enter into this special blessing with God.

God has planted eternity in our hearts, we long for something more than just this physical realm.  We contemplate meaning of life and what life is all about.  Animals in the wild live according to their most basic instinct.  They do not contemplate the meaning of their existence.  Not only do we think about these things, we dare to find the answer to our existence.  Only when we find the ultimate answer in God, do we find true comfort and meaning for our existence.  This is only possible when God opens our eyes and allows us to see the provision He has made through His Son, Jesus Christ.  As Solomon comes to the end of his own life, he is able to see things more clearly than ever before.  When we have personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we can look forward to our spirit rising upward.  As we leave this world, we will be in God’s presence to enter into eternal life.  For those who do not have personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ, their final destiny can only be described as desolate. 

Solomon finally reiterates what he has said before.  Look at verse 22.

     So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

While we are living on this earth, we have been given full freedom to enjoy our work.  This is our lot in life.  God has given us a measure of gift.  With that gift, we find our vocation and apply ourselves fully to that vocation.  Whatever the vocation we have chosen for ourselves, we give ourselves fully working diligently that we might be able to provide for ourselves and our family.  Work is noble regardless of what that work is.  No vocation that God has called us to is more worthy than another.  As each person has been given a measure of talents, we are to do our best with what He has given us.  No one should be ashamed of his job or think more highly of oneself because of what he has been given.  We can only be grateful for what God has endowed us with and thrive with that gift in the vocation we have chosen to God’s glory and to the good of the people.

We are at our happiest when we enjoy our work.  With recent downturn in our economy, many people are losing jobs.  With the loss of jobs comes lower self esteem.  Whether we acknowledge this or not, most often we identify our self worth with our work and what we are able to do.  And when we are not able to work to provide for our needs, we feel we have let down those who are important to us.  And this can be devastating in some cases as domestic discord increases with downturn in our economy.  In times like this, there is even greater need to affirm those who are struggling and to comfort and encourage those who need to be reminded that with God’s strength and help, we can rise above the current predicament. 

And those of us who are currently working, we ought to be grateful for our employment and rejoice in God.  For the privilege to work and draw compensation from our work, we ought to be filled with thanksgiving for there are those who would love to be where we are today.  And we ought to work with joy in our heart not with discontentment.  As we derive happiness from our work, our spirit is lifted up and we lift the spirit of those around us and energize them.  As long as there is a breath of life in us, let us live life fully and gratefully. 

We can only be responsible for the time we have been given here on earth.  To worry or fret about what will happen after our time here on earth comes to an end is to speculate and therefore not very productive.  Who knows what will happen to our work once we are gone?  Should we be concerned about such things?  Solomon would advise us to not waste our effort in things that are out of our control and to simply concentrate on what we are doing while we are alive.  Of course, we have found the true meaning of our life in Jesus Christ and can have that assurance.