(“The Futility Of Labor”)

Ecclesiastes 2:18-26 (NASU)

18“Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 19And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19)

(A) A BRIEF THEOLOGY OF WORK

(1) For many people “work” is a four-letter word – a kind of necessary evil (if you will) – something they have to do between week-ends, and/or so they can afford to take a vacation. Some DO find their work enjoyable, for the most part – although I suspect few would say they enjoy every aspect. Others, however, have such an aversion to work they’re willing to go to great lengths to avoid it. Hence, Scripture talks about “the sluggard” whose “hands refuse to work” (c.f. Proverbs 21:25), warning that such a man will have no one to blame but himself when he ends up in poverty (c.f. Proverbs 24:30-34).

(2) According to Scripture, work is a good thing.

(a) One reason we know that is because work was part of creation before the Fall. Genesis chapter two says, for example, that “the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (c.f. Genesis 2:15). In other words, Adam didn’t spend all day sitting in the shade petting animals and eating fruit – there was work to be done – the Garden of Eden needing tending, even though thorns and thistles didn’t yet exist (c.f. Genesis 3:18). Indeed, God intended for mankind to find pleasure and/or fulfillment, not in idleness, but in rewarding labor¹ – i.e. the kind of labor that’s done “heartily, as for the Lord” (c.f. Colossians 3:23).

(b) Another reason we know work is a good thing is because it’s one of the ways men and women reflect the image of God.²

[1] Scripture tells us our God is a working God (the seventh day not withstanding). Obviously, there’s the work of creation (c.f. Genesis 2:2-3), which David once called, “the work of (His) fingers” (c.f. Psalm 8:3a), thereby underscoring both His power and His attention to detail.

But God works in other ways as well. For example, His ability to thwart the secret plots of the wicked is called “the work of God” (c.f. Psalm 64:9) – the prophet Jeremiah called the destruction of Babylon “a work of the Lord God of hosts” (c.f. Jeremiah 50:25b) – while the Apostle Peter called our sanctification a “work of the Spirit” (c.f. I Peter 1:2a). Hence, the psalmist exhorts us to praise God, saying: “How awesome are Your works!” (c.f. Psalm 66:3a) – while in another place we’re told to “sing for joy at the works of (His) hands”, and to praise Him, saying: “How great are Your works, O Lord!” (c.f. Psalm 92:4b-5a).

[2] Since we have been made in God’s image (c.f. Genesis 1:27), it should come as no surprise to learn we are to work as well, even in a fallen world where our work is often contested by “weeds and sweat” (c.f. Genesis 3:17-19). Hence, the New Testament exhorts us to “lead a quiet life … attend to (our) own business and work with (our) hands” (c.f. I Thessalonians 4:11) – while in another place Paul said: “some among you are leading an undisciplined life, (by) doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread” (c.f. II Thessalonians 3:11-12).

(3) Paul wouldn’t have had to tell Solomon to “get to work” – for we’ve already seen he was no “sluggard” (c.f. Proverbs 6:6-11; Ecclesiastes 2:4-6). Hence, it wasn’t work per se he “hated” in tonight’s Scripture lesson, but the uncertainty of what would happen to “the fruit of (his) labor” after he was gone. Solomon admitted earlier in chapter two that he found some “pleasure” in his work (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:10), even though it didn’t provide him lasting satisfaction – while in tonight’s Scripture lesson he says one of God’s gifts to men is the ability to enjoy the fruit of their “labor” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:24-25). The thing he found so frustrating was that death would force him to relinquish “control” of everything he had worked for to someone else – furthermore, there was no guarantee that “someone” would be “a wise man” who appreciated the “legacy” he had been given – in fact, he might turn out to be a “fool” who would waste and/or destroy what Solomon had worked so long and hard to build (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:18-21).³

(B) HATE AND DESPAIR OVER HIS LIFE’S WORK

(1) Tonight’s Scripture lesson opens with Solomon saying: “Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:18a).

(a) The word “thus” indicates a connection between what Solomon just said, and what he’s saying now. In this instance, “thus” takes us back to the idea of death – to the fact that “one (and the same) fate befalls” both the wise man and the fool (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:14-15) – to the fact all men not only die, but except perhaps for the musty pages of some little known history book, who they were and/or what they did are eventually “forgotten” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:16).

[1] Let me give you a personal example. I worked the camp meeting circuit for twenty-five years (longer than any manager before or since) – and though I’m not dead yet, I could go up to Nogal Mesa next week and find numerous people who have never heard of Rick Steele, or who have forgotten I was once part of that work. Let the “old timers” and a few others die, and some years from now I will be nothing more than a name in that camp’s historical records – a name that means little or nothing to those who still attend. In that regard, then, I could say: “Thus, I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:18a).

[2] In case you think Solomon was just being cynical, let me remind you he wasn’t the first or only biblical writer to come to this conclusion. His father David, for example, once wrote: “As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer” (c.f. Psalm 103:15-16). And Job once said: “When a cloud vanishes, it is gone, so (the man) who goes down to Sheol does not come up. He will not return again to his house, nor will his place know him anymore” (c.f. Job 7:9-10).

[3] Beloved, we have way too high an opinion of ourselves if we think the same thing isn’t going to happen to us, so far as our life and/or our life’s word “under the sun” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:18a) is concerned.

(b) In verse eighteen Solomon applied the “fate” of death to his labor, saying (in effect) that “one fate befalls” both the sluggard and the man who works hard – because both the lazy man and the productive man eventually die.

[1] That may not be a big deal to the sluggard, because he doesn’t have much to leave behind. But it IS a big deal to someone like Solomon, because it meant that after years of intense labor, he would be forced to “leave (everything he built and/or worked for) to the man who will come after (him)” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:18b).

Its also a big deal to men and women who, like the rich fool in Luke chapter twelve, have devoted their entire life to “stor(ing) up treasure(s) for (themselves), and (are) not rich toward God” (c.f. Luke 12:21) – or, as Jesus put it, who have “store(d) up … treasures on earth” where the moths of time and thieves of death eventually “break in and steal” everything they have, as opposed to “stor(ing) up … treasures in heaven” where time and death cannot rob a man of his investment (c.f. Matthew 6:19-20).

[2] This is what we call a self-evident truth. In other words, its obvious to everyone who’s been paying attention to what happens when people die. It should be as clear as day to anyone who’s ever gone to an estate sale – received an inheritance from a dead relative – or bought an antique. The whole reason these things happen, the whole reason they exist is because the cliché that says, “You can’t take it with you”, is absolutely right! None of us CAN take “it” with us – we can’t take our cars – or our money – or our trophies. We can’t even take the few things someone might put in our casket – like a special piece of jewelry! It may go into the casket – but it won’t be going with us!

[3] We can’t even retain absentee ownership of our house – or land – or any of the other belongings we once owned. All of it passes into the possession of someone else. Hence, Psalm Forty-Nine says: “even wise men die; the stupid and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others” (c.f. Psalm 49:10) – but then, if that weren’t bad enough, the passage immediately goes on to add: “(men’s) inner thought(s) (are) that their houses are forever and their dwelling places to all generations; they have (even) called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; he is like the beasts that perish” (c.f. Psalm 49:11-12) – and we all know how much thought people give a wild animal after its dead?!

(c) All this might not have been a problem if Solomon had known “the man who came after him” would be as wise and skillful and hardworking (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:21a) as he had been.

[1] However, God gives no such guarantees. Hence, Solomon asked rhetorically: “who knows whether he (i.e. the man who comes after me) will be a wise man or a fool?” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:19a). In some ways it’s a futile question, because regardless of what kind of man he is – regardless of whether he builds wisely or foolishly on what he’s been given – Solomon said, “he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:19b).

[2] One wonders if Solomon saw disaster looming on the horizon as he was writing Ecclesiastes chapter two? It's possible – although we’ll never know for sure this side of heaven. But consider, for a moment, what happened after Solomon died.

Scripture tells us his son, Rehoboam, became king “in his place” (c.f. I Kings 11:43) – and almost immediately, through a combination of foolishness and arrogance, caused the nation his father and grandfather had built to split in two. I will admit there were some “behind-the-scenes” reasons for this – including Solomon’s own sin (c.f. I Kings 11:1-43). But those things aside, here’s a brief summary of how this disaster took place.

The nation came to their new king and said: “Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you” (c.f. I Kings 12:3). Before answering, Rehoboam judiciously sought the advice of the elders who had served his father, who counseled him to “grant” the people’s “petition” (c.f. I Kings 12:6-7). The new king then sought the counsel of “the young men who (had grown) up with him”, who advised him to say: “My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins! Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions” (c.f. I Kings 12:8-12).

Rehoboam foolishly chose to follow the council of his boyhood friends – whereupon all the tribes, except Judah and Benjamin, revolted and formed a separate nation – nor was there anything Rehoboam could do to stop them (c.f. I Kings 12:16-24).

Five years later, the king of Egypt came and stripped Rehoboam, Jerusalem, and the temple of all the wealth Solomon had accumulated – including the shields of gold we read about in an earlier message (c.f. I Kings 14:25-28). The bottom line is, that within half a decade Rehoboam lost and/or destroyed everything Solomon had worked forty years to build.

[3] Thus, his son “who came after him” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:18b) turned out to be a “fool rather than a wise man” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:19a). Upon Solomon’s death he took control of the fruit of his father’s labor (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:19b), and proceeded to squander it, just as surely as the prodigal son squandered his portion of his father’s inheritance in loose living (c.f. Luke 15:12-13).

No wonder Solomon looked at everything he had labored a lifetime to build, and said: This too is vanity” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:19c) – and a second time: “this too is vanity and a great evil” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:21c). Not only is our life “a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (c.f. James 4:14b) – but so is our wealth and/or our life’s work – especially if it falls into the hands of fool! Nor does God give us any guarantee it won’t!

(2) Moving on, Solomon continued in the same vein, saying in verse twenty: “Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:20).

(a) The more Solomon thought about these things, the worse he felt – the more he reflected on having to leave, not part, but “all” the fruit of his life’s work to someone else, the more futile all his efforts seemed – the more he considered the possibility that the man who inherited what he built might be “fool”, the more any earlier pleasure he derived from his work turned to “despair”.

(b) What’s the point, if the next man doesn’t “labor with (the same) wisdom, knowledge and skill” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:21a)? Where’s the advantage in building an empire (so to speak), if the next man doesn’t work to improve it and/or expand it – or at least keep it in tact? Why exert a lifetime of sweat and energy to build something a man “under the sun” can be proud of, if the next man “under the sun” doesn’t appreciate it enough to take care of it?

(c) The more Solomon thought about these things, the more he wondered: “what DOES a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:22). The more things he has, the more things he has to lose – the more he builds, the more there is for someone to come along and destroy – the more he invests in “life under the sun”, the more he regrets having to leave it all behind.⁴ His father David had been right – “Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them” (c.f. Psalm 39:6).

(d) Solomon goes on to answer his own question in verse twenty-three, however – “what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?” – Solomon’s answer is: “all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:23).

It’s “vanity” because he spends the “days” of his life in labor that’s “painful and grievous” – in work that’s full of suffering and trouble – just so the next man can come along and enjoy “the fruit of his toil” without having to work for it himself!⁴

It’s “vanity” because he can’t even get a good’s night sleep – because even when he lies down to rest his mind never stops planning, or worrying. Solomon will later say that “the sleep of the working man is pleasant” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 5:12a) – but at the moment his own sleep is anything but pleasant, because at night he’s troubled by the fact that everything he has worked for may end up in the hands of a fool!

(C) SOLOMON IN THE PSALMS

(1) Each week I’ve been trying to leave you with some thoughts that provide a biblical balance to the futility Solomon correctly saw in the way the natural man (c.f. I Corinthians 2:14a) goes about living his life “under the sun” – i.e. living life outside the umbrella of “fear(ing) God and keep(ing) His commandments” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:3b; 2:18a; 12:13).

(2) This past week my Bible reading was in the Book of Psalms – and I was struck by the fact Psalm 127 was apparently written by Solomon. And even if it wasn’t, it uses one of his favorite words – “vain” – as in, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep” (c.f. Psalm 127:1-2).

(3) Once we’re familiar with the message of the Book of Ecclesiastes, its hard to miss the connection – although I confess, I had never made it until this week. On the one hand, those verses in Psalm 127 tell us all human effort is useless apart from God⁵ – whether it be “laboring” to build a house, or “laboring” to guard a city from invaders. Indeed, apart from God, all our hard work – i.e. getting up early, and working late – even working smarter not harder (as some like to say today) – all our “painful labors” will be fruitless! Or, as Solomon likes to say in the Book of Ecclesiastes, they will be “futility and striving after wind” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:11b, 17b, 26c)

(4) On the other hand, however, with God our labor becomes fruitful and/or productive. When done in obedience to His commands and/or in accord with His will, our labor – no matter how “painful” or hard it may be – (that labor) will NOT be futile, or vain, or so much striving after wind. Hence, Paul says: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (c.f. I Corinthians 15:58).

Lack of apparent progress and/or immediate affect can easily cause us to become discouraged – to think our labor as Christians is all for nothing.⁶ Labor exerted “under the sun” IS ultimately futile – labor exerted in obedience to the Son, and blessed by His grace, is not!