The Trouble with Work audio
[{Based on the book: Every Good Endeavour by Tim Keller}
Benjamin Franklin once wrote that nothing in this world can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. But of course he could have added work to that short list, couldn't he?
To reword a proverb recorded by Erasmus: “Work: you can’t live with it; and you can’t live without it.”
That’s the trouble with work. We want to do it. If you’ve ever been unemployed you’ll know how much you wish you had a job. I retired from being a Vicar about 12 months ago and it was great for about 3 weeks, then I started looking for things to do: because life quickly gets boring without any work to do.
But on the other hand, work is a pain; it’s often hard, or boring, or frustrating. Not that we should be surprised, if we’re familiar with the creation story from Gen 2-3.
God puts Adam in the garden with work to do. He’s to till it and keep. At that stage one assumes it’s a joy to work in this idyllic place where water arises to form a stream to water the garden and every good tree can be found.
Remember, God had warned Adam and Eve that if they ate of one particular tree they’d surely die. But having disobeyed, they didn’t collapse on the ground dead did they? The death God was warning them of was more gradual than that and more far-reaching. Yes, they’d die eventually, as will each one of us, but in the meantime they’d experience a slow deterioration both of their own bodies and of everything else in creation. Every aspect of human life would be affected: spiritual, social, physical, cultural, you name it. The whole world was subject to corruption. So the first thing they discovered was that they were naked, and they were ashamed. When God came and asked them what had happened they immediately started passing the buck. It was the woman’s fault; it was God’s fault because he’d put the woman there; it was the snake’s fault. Already self-centredness has crept in and they’re trying to pass off responsibility to someone else.
But the effect of sin has more to it than that. From now on the work that God has given them, the work that God gives us to do, will be spoilt. And that’ll be in a number of ways.
1. Work is Fruitless
He tells them that from now on work will become toil: hard, grinding, wearisome toil
He says thorns and thistles will grow where your crops should be. Ask a farmer out in the Wimmera whether he understands the significance of that bit of the curse.
But for us it’s similar. So often what should be a simple process gets mucked up by human error, or human wilfulness, or simple bloody-mindedness. The best ideas can come to nothing. Look at the efforts of both the government and opposition to bring about tax-reform. Every new idea gets knocked on the head because of vested interests who don’t want their bit of the cake to get any less.
If you’ve ever sat down to evaluate your work life you’ve probably been disappointed. Disappointed that the dreams you had of great success haven’t quite worked out as you’d have liked; disappointed that there were some areas where you didn’t have all the gifts that were needed; disappointed at the occasional breakdown in relationships with others at work. And even if there have been times when you were doing a great job you may have been disappointed with the results.
As I said, I retired a year ago from St Thomas’ Burwood, where Heather had been my curate and Adam had had a student placement and I left it in pretty good shape. But even so it could have been much better. From what I hear it is much better now than it was a year ago. So there’s some sense of disappointment that my work could have been even more fruitful than it was.
But not only can work be fruitless it can also become pointless.
2. Work Becomes Pointless
The writer of Ecclesiastes is called “The Teacher”. He’s a mix of a scientist , a sociologist and a philosopher. And he could easily be a 21st century man. He says he’s had three great “life projects” that have allowed him to examine the world (all that’s under the sun is his expression) and his conclusion is a bit depressing. In fact I’m not sure it’s a good idea to read Ecclesiastes alone if you suffer from depression. Because his conclusion is that everything is meaningless, a vain chasing after wind.
His three life projects begin with a search for meaning through learning and wisdom. He takes on a scientific exploration of the natural world and of the wisdom of the intellectual world. His conclusion: “18in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.” (1:18)
He then explores the world of pleasure. He’s rich so there’s nothing stopping him from seeking out every source of pleasure and happiness: wine, women and song, then a massive construction program creating gardens and parks and pools and forests. And his conclusion: “11Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” (2:11)
So finally he tries to drive away this sense of futility through hard work. But even that’s fruitless because in the end he’ll have to leave the product of his hard work to someone else who may not be worthy of it. He says: “22What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? 23For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity. (2:22-23) Are you like me and spend sleepless nights worrying about some issue that’s worrying you?
Do you have that hope that the things you do at work might have some sort of impact on the world or on the people that your work affects? I know that varies from job to job but I think most of us would like it to be true. But so often we feel it isn’t the case. Either we can’t see what affect it’s having or we realise that what we achieve today will most likely be wiped away tomorrow - or sometime in the future.
I used to work as an Electronics engineer in the Dept of Aviation. I spent my last 5 or 6 years designing a computerised Air Traffic Control System to replace the manual system that had been used up until that date. We signed a contract with a manufacturer just before I left to go to Ridley College in 1990. You know, within a year that contract had been cancelled because a bigger and better system had come along. Five year’s work wiped out by the rapid development of computer systems! Talk about Pointless!
But not only can it be pointless it can also be alienating.
Alienation
So often the work we do is removed from the actual point of impact. I was fortunate because I could visit an air traffic control centre or a control tower and see how the systems I designed were being used. But so many people today never have that opportunity. This is particularly a problem in an industrialised and bureaucratic world. People working on a production line may never see the end product. People shuffling papers in a bureaucracy of some sort: processing insurance claims, banking people’s money, keeping a company’s accounts may not really understand what their work is achieving or the real life situation of the people they’re dealing with. All they see are the endless files that pass over their desk. And these days it’s possible to work from home and never personally engage with any other people. The preacher has this to say about that scenario: “7Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. "For whom am I toiling," they ask, "and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy business.” (4:7-8)
3. Work Becomes Selfish
One of the great problems we have with work is that we use it as the main basis of our meaning and identity.
Making a name for ourselves
How many times has someone asked you to tell them about yourself and you say “I’m an engineer”; or a doctor or a carpenter, or a public servant or whatever your profession is.
So work becomes not as a way to serve others or to create good things as God intended but as a way to differentiate ourselves from others; to show the world and ourselves that I’m special. It’s one of the three great Melbourne establishment questions isn’t it?: “Who’s your Father? What school did you go to? and what work do you do?”
In Gen 11 we find the story of the building of the Tower of Babel. It’s a classic story of human pride. There are two steps in the story. First someone discovers how to make bricks and bake them to give them strength, then someone else realises that this gives them endless possibilities for self-promotion. With this technology we could build a skyscraper all the way to heaven. Sounds a familiar story doesn’t it? How many people in the last century have tried to make a name for themselves by building the tallest building in the world?
Of course if you need to make a name for yourself it reveals a basic insecurity about who you are, doesn’t it? Rather than seeing yourself as God’s child, made in his image with the name that he’s given you, you need to make one for yourself.
The other reason they want to build is so they won’t be scattered over the face of the earth. This building will give them a sense of security, of social connectedness, of significance as a group. This is the way snobbery and imperialism and racism begins. We’re great and you’re not.
Of course as a social experiment it all falls apart because God decides, not to destroy the city, but to make them begin to speak different languages. And that sense of social connectedness dies, or splinters into petty rivalries between the newly created language groups.
Sadly our natural pride and our desire for personal significance almost always lead to competition which leads to disunity and disagreement. Pride is almost always competitive. It’s not enough that I ran a marathon, I have to have run it faster than you. It’s not enough that I’m earning a high salary. I need to be earning more than you.
4. Work Reveals our Idols
Their Persuasiveness and Power
It’s a few years since we had Australian Idol on the TV but I’m sure that’s one of the things we think about when we mention idols; that or some figurine in an eastern temple somewhere. But when the Bible talks about idols it’s thinking much more widely than either our popular media type idol or a primitive religion type idol. No, an idol is anything in the creation that we take as deserving our love or service; or that gives us meaning. It means anything that we rely on to deliver us control, or security, or significance, or satisfaction. Wow! That opens up a few possibilities doesn’t it?
The danger with such idols is not only that there are so many opportunities for giving things that sort of significance but that they have such power over us. Luther suggested that we never break the other commandments without first breaking the command to have no other gods before the Lord. Do you see how that works? If you see that success in business is your greatest goal then it’ll be a small thing to lie when you’re negotiating a deal. If sexual pleasure is your great aim in life, adultery won’t be a problem.
The young man who’s out of work because he refused to take a job stacking shelves at the supermarket, because it was below him, is suffering under the power that his ambition, his view of success, has over him.
So Work can be Fruitless, it can be Pointless, it can be Selfish, it can reveal the idols we worship, sometimes without even knowing it. But we can’t avoid it. So how do we behave as Christian believers in a way that minimises the struggle. Let me suggest a way forward
5. A Way Forward
Accepting Fruitlessness
If you’ve seen the movie Amadeus, you’ll remember that there was a degree of rivalry between Mozart and Salieri, the court composer to the Emperor. Salieri saw the work that Mozart produced and was amazed that someone could create such heavenly music with little apparent struggle. And he despaired of ever reaching that height of greatness, though he longed to. But did he give up? No. He kept producing perfectly good operas and other music for the Emperor, though never to the standard of Mozart.
Today we have a slightly different problem. Anyone who’s grown up in the past 30 or 40 years has had drummed into them from an early age that they can accomplish anything they put their mind to. So the desire of recent generations has been to do something amazing for the world.
But the reality is we live in a fallen world where we may only be able to do a good job not an amazing job. Do we give up? No, we do the best we can and we keep going even when things go wrong. I remember someone years ago showing me a book on marriage. It was called “A Good Enough Marriage”. I thought that was a pretty good title for a book on marriage in our fallen world.
God’s Consolation
But don’t let that thought depress you. Remember that we’re Christians whose hope is in a God who redeems; who takes our humble offerings and uses them, the way Jesus took the 5 loaves a 2 fish and fed 5000 people with it. God will use the work we do and in the end he’ll take us to be with him where we’ll enjoy a reward that we could never have earnt by our own efforts.
A Handful of Quietness (Eccl 4:5-6)
The Preacher in Ecclesiastes has something else to say to us. He says “22So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot;” (3:22) You can’t escape it and you’d regret it if it were taken away from you so why not make the best of it that you can? And how can we do that? The preacher goes on to say; “5Fools fold their hands and consume their own flesh. 6Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil, and a chasing after wind.” (4:5-6)
He’s saying, there are three alternatives. Sit back, do nothing and live off what you have until it’s all gone; or grab as much as you can with two handfuls but with great toil and vain striving, or work for enough but with tranquillity and acceptance. Paul, in that often misquoted verse where he says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” has just said: “11I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. (Phil 4:11-12) Like the Preacher he’s learnt the secret of being content with the place God has put him.
Finding Hope for our work
Finally let’s remember that the gospel points us forward to a future when God will take away all pain and sorrow. And that gospel tells us that right now we can take part in God’s plan to bring renewal to our world. How? By working hard, because we see that we’re working not for ourselves, not just for our boss, but we’re working for God, to bring his light into the world by the way we approach our work. Part of what we’re doing, hopefully, is working towards God’s love and care being seen in the world. Obviously that’ll be easier in some jobs than others.
If we think of ourselves as working for God as well as our boss it’ll shape our ethical and moral behaviour at work.
Finally if we think of ourselves as working for God it’ll give us an added resilience when work becomes toil.
Let’s give the Preacher the last word: “13moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.” (Eccl 3:13) May that be the experience of each one of us.
