Ecclesiastes 9:10

0:00 Good evening. A couple of years ago, a new show captured the attention of many people around the world on Netflix. It was called Squid Games. Some of you are chuckling. You know which show I'm talking about. I cannot give it a pastoral recommendation for a number of different reasons. Viewer discretion, definitely. But the whole concept of the show was that these contestants would basically die if they lost in the game show. It was twisted, and it had people on the edge of their seat.

0:31 Tens of millions of people. And so it was with bated breath that I awaited watching an actual reality show based on Squid Games that came out several weeks ago. And I thought, how on earth are they going to do this? Because in the TV show that was fiction, people died. I'm guessing we're not in that stage of civilization yet where we're okay with that in real life. And so people had these ink blots that would show up on their t-shirt when they were out of the game.

1:03 There's this challenge halfway through the reality show. I'm not going to give up names or anything about who wins, but it's called the face-to-face challenge, and it's played with marbles. And effectively, you're paired off, two people at a time, and you've got a stack of marbles. and you're given 20 minutes of time to devise a game by which one of you will be eliminated from the game. And the stakes are huge. Now, you don't die, but the winner of this reality show, we're about to find out this week who actually wins it, is going to win $4.5 million.

1:37 That's huge. There's only three people left. But I was watching on a plane this episode with people with marbles and the time is ticking and there was this one pair that could not devise a game and the show had already shown us that when you break the rules and you don't get a result by the end of your time you're out and there was this guy and gal and they had their marbles and they started to argue about what type of game they were going to play and the time is ticking and it took all of my energy not to scream out in the middle of this plane, would you just pick a game already?

2:16 And they picked a game. There was two minutes left. They played the game. And of course, it was a tie. And there was no time left in order for them to break the tie. And there was no winner. And so they were both knocked out of this competition to win $4.5 million. Friends, time matters. What you do with that time matters. Our text tonight is Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 10. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

2:49 For there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol to which you are going. I think the main point of this text is that we should work hard with the time we have. Work hard, friend, with the time you have. In tonight's devotional, I want to focus and discuss our motivation for work. And then I want to discuss our work before I give you a warning, a reminder, and some practical steps.

3:21 So first, our motivation. Ecclesiastes was written by the preacher. And he takes aim at all of the things that we as humans have put our hope in apart from God. Whether that's work, whether that's life, whether that's our concept of happiness or food or drink, he takes aim at all of it. And in chapter 9, where we are tonight, the preacher reminds us that death comes for us all. He reminds us to enjoy life in the midst of our toil and to value wisdom.

3:56 In our verse tonight, he points out that we will all die. So we should work hard in this life. And he refers to Sheol, which in the Old Testament is used to describe where everyone goes when they die. Now, we don't have time to unpack the biblical theology of Sheol. This isn't an episode of Bible Talk. You can go there and listen to Alex and Sam and Jim break that down for you. But I'm going to quote Matthew Emerson, a theologian, in that he refers to it as the place of death.

4:31 It's the opposite of the promised land. It's the exilic wilderness, and it swallows up the dead. So just think of it as this big, scary, grave, death swallowing up all of humanity. Death is coming for all. That's what the writer of Ecclesiastes is wanting the original reader and us today to think about. Death is coming for us all. Sheol is coming for us all. And the point is that our lives are relatively short when we look at them in view of eternity.

5:07 So we should be motivated to work hard in our lives. Now if you're listening carefully and you're a good Protestant, you're a bit alarmed with where I'm taking our devotional tonight. It's very easy to look at a text like this and fall into the ditch of work-based righteousness. But friends, I'm not worried tonight about the people who fall into the pit and the ditch of workspace righteousness. I'm worried about us good members of Third Avenue Baptist Church who understand that our righteousness is found in Christ. What are we having a proclivity towards?

5:42 Well, I think if you're like me and you've got some Reformed theology, perhaps we're so dependent on Christ for his righteousness that we forget to work hard in our life. In 1905, there was an author named Max Weber who was writing a book on the history of economic theory in Europe. Some of you might be interested in that book. Many of you will not be, except it's really interesting. In this book is where the phrase Protestant work ethic was coined. Perhaps you've heard of that phrase, Protestant work ethic. And this economist was looking through history and trying to discover where capitalism really took root. And what he found in his studies was that it really took root in Protestant European cultures. And he traced it all the way back to Martin Luther, who had a fantastic understanding of God's sovereignty and our salvation.

6:36 And what he noticed was that Protestants who understood God's sovereignty and their salvation worked harder than Catholics who were going after a works-based righteousness. That's incredible. People who desired to glorify God with their hard work out of thanksgiving for their salvation were working harder historically in some of these countries than those who believed in a works-based righteousness. So friends, our motivation ultimately in our hard work is to glorify God.

7:10 he saved us from death. Jesus swallowed up death when he rose from the grave and as Christians we are commissioned to share his good news to all the earth. We're not Old Testament folks. We're not living in the Old Testament days anymore. We are living in the New Testament days and so when we read about Sheol, we're not shaking as they would have before Christ. Sheol, death, swallowed up. Friends, Jesus was victorious over death. But we still need to live in light of the fact that one day, each one of us in this room, unless Jesus comes back, we will die. We will die. And I want us to live lives that glorify God as we live. We glorify God as we let our light shine before others so that they see our good work and praise our Father who's in heaven. So as we work hard, members of Third Avenue Baptist Church, wouldn't it be fantastic if people see our hard work

8:13 and they say, hey, why do you work so hard? And you can tell them about the marvelous grace of Jesus Christ, who worked perfectly on our behalf so that we might have eternal life in Christ. Our motivation. Number two, our work. The preacher writes, whatever you have your hand, whatever your hand finds to do, Do it with your might. The whatever is comprehensive. I don't know if you're like me, but sometimes there's a temptation to be selective in the effort that I put forward in various parts of my life.

8:52 I tend to work hardest in the areas that I excel in. I'm not very good at working hard in things that come hard to me. So this word whatever is comprehensive. It was especially convicting to me yesterday as I was working around our house doing some manual things. I am not gifted with the physical dexterity to do difficult things around my home. Some of you who are in our home group, you know the light fixture that I can't fix.

9:22 Or you're aware of some of the other shortcomings in my manual labor skills. And this verse was particularly convicting for me yesterday as I was working around my house. Because often you won't see me working around the house in my sinfulness because I want to avoid difficult things. Friends, put in effort. Do it with might, whatever it is that you're doing. It's easy to read the text and see the word might that's used there and think that the author's only talking about manual labor.

10:00 But if you look closer at the text, there's various types of activity that we're seeing here referenced. First, there's work. That implies labor and action. In a room with as many people as this, it's safe to assume that we all have proclivities towards certain types of work. Some of you are skilled in working with your hands. You can build a house by yourself. I know there are literally people in this room that can build a house by yourself. I can't even put a Lego house together. Callum is saying, amen.

10:33 Some of you can repair cars. You have technical skills on how to do something with your car to fix it. I have the ability to drive my car to the garage, drop it off, and then pay for it. That's where my skills with cars end. But friends, if you're here and you find that work easy, it's not like you're without temptation either in this area. Perhaps you're tempted to not work hard on certain days. Perhaps you're in a job that involves manual labor, and you're paid for 100% of your time, but you find yourself working 85% with an 85% effort or a 55% effort.

11:16 Activities that could take 60 minutes, you can make them last for 90 minutes. But friend, ultimately, your employer is paying you 50% more for that activity than what they should have paid you if you had worked with your might. And now you're taking away some of your employer's profits. Apply that to any physical activity. Some of you might be like me and you struggle with skills for a lot of these tasks. And friends, none of us in this room get an exemption from manual work. Just because God hasn't gifted you in something doesn't mean you shouldn't put all of your effort and might into that thing. So, work hard with your might whenever you have to do physical work. Now, some of you work more with your minds in your jobs than your hands.

12:07 Can I hear an amen? I'm thankful for that type of work. But friends, we also are tempted in different ways to not work with our might when we're sitting at a computer. In 1955, Cyril Northcote Parkinson wrote in The Economist magazine that work expands to fill the amount of time given to it for its completion. He had worked, this man Cyril, in the British Civil Services, and he had seen all of this bureaucracy, and he noticed if you gave someone three hours of time to do a task, they would fill that three hours. If you gave them 30 minutes to do the very same task, they would fill it. They'd get that task done in those 30 minutes.

12:50 Ultimately, it became known as the Parkinson Law. Perhaps you've heard of it. Friends, do you allocate the right amount of time for your tasks and then finish them in that time? Do you work hard at your job and your computer? Do you build in the right amount of slack so that you can look at Facebook and Twitter and Instagram on your boss's dime? Are you working with all of your might? Those of you who have manual jobs, you also face temptations in this type of work. Are you managing your household well and the paying of bills and taking care of your expenses, all of the mind work it takes to manage a house well? What about knowledge? The third category of work. Students, do you work with all your might? Do you read all of your required texts in your class in order just to check a box or do you actually read those books to get knowledge do you see your current assignment as a student as a time to sharpen yourself so that you can be more

13:50 effective in your labor one day and bring glory to god your temptations perhaps i know this was for me as a student, once upon a time, was laziness. Not putting in my best effort. I was tempted to cut classes. Perhaps for you, learning doesn't come easy, friend, member. So you don't read books. You don't look to pursue more knowledge than the minimum required for any particular thing. You've been invited to ecclesiology seminar year after year after year, and you keep saying no because it sounds like work. Friend, remember well. Get to know the ecclesiology of our local church and work with all your might and do the best that you can to learn what it means to be a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church. And finally, wisdom. Wisdom. Those of you who are retirees in this room, you thought you were getting away tonight. Well, you're not. I've got a specific challenge

14:52 for you. Statistically, the average retired senior citizen watches between four and five hours of television a day. That's crazy. Retired friend, is your day spent like the rest of America's retirees? Or do you spend your might pouring into young men and women evangelizing in your neighborhood. Maybe your temptation is just to live as you see fit because you've worked so hard to quote-unquote enjoy these years. Young people, it takes a lot of work to seek out an older person for wisdom. Don't be lazy. Work with your might. Find older people to mentor you. Older people, it takes a lot of work to put yourself out there and invite a younger person into your life. Work with all your might. Invite younger people into your life. Let them learn from the wisdom that the Lord has given to you throughout your life.

15:54 That's our work. Now, briefly, a warning. Some of you here do not need encouragement to work harder. You're perhaps at risk of burning out. You're burning the candle on both ends. You're not resting, friend, you need to work smarter, not harder. I think there's a mental might to some of our work that you need to exercise, and you need to decide, what have I overcommitted to for the sake of my health? Your need is more to focus on verses that tell you to eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart. So look at those verses. Beware of extremes, and beware that you're not falling into that trap of a workspace righteousness.

16:38 A reminder, Christian, your worth is not in your work. Even as I'm up here exhorting you to work hard, that's not your worth. Your worth is in Jesus. And he perfectly worked on your behalf. Rest in him. I love rest. I love rest. And I love that we get rest because of Jesus. Celebrate that. Our hard work is not to save ourselves, friends. Our hard work is to glorify God.

17:09 Finally, a few practical steps. These will be quick. Number one, perhaps you're not working with all of your might. An easy step, start working with your might. Number two, find people who work hard and people who work smart and learn from them. Number three, ask which category of work you might struggle with most in your various assignments, as a spouse, as a child, as a student, as an employee, and seek and find ways to work harder and mightier in those areas.

17:48 Four, ask others to hold you accountable for your laziness. Perhaps you're like me and you've been blessed with a spouse. Erin is my greatest accountability partner in this area. She can tell you every area of laziness in my life. And in my sinfulness, I often don't take those encouragements to work hard in the right way. But what a way to honor your spouse if you're married and work hard and let them see your hard work. And if you're not married, there are friends in your life that God has given to you.

18:19 Ask them to hold you accountable too. Better to hear a rebuke from a friend than a termination from an employer. Number five, remember death. Friend, you will die, and you don't know when. Don't put off the instruction to work hard for God's glory. Let's pray. God, we thank you that we can read this text on this side of the cross and recognize that Jesus perfectly fulfilled all that was required for salvation, our salvation.

19:01 God, we pray that those in this room who don't know you would come to a saving knowledge of you even this very night. And Lord, I pray that Third Avenue Baptist Church would be known as a church full of members who work hard and glorify God as employees and as students, as kids, as parents, as retirees. God, would you find our work satisfying and that it gives glory to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.