A New Kind of 9-5
by Pastor Jeremy
“For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”
—Ecclesiastes 2:26
As we continue to journey through the book of Ecclesiastes, we quickly find ourselves in deeply applicable content. In chapter 2, Solomon shows us the difficulty and frustration in our work (note: by work I mean any calling that the Lord has placed on your life that fits within the ethical bounds of His Word. This includes stay-at-home moms, mechanics, medical professionals, university students, to name a few).
Solomon clues us in, however, as to how we can actually enjoy our work. Yes, you read that right. We can enjoy our work - but only if we find our full satisfaction in Christ. And we do that by realizing that Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Verse 26 of chapter 2 is interesting and slightly offensive if you’re not a follower of Jesus. It says that God gives to the one who pleases Him. But it goes even further to say that God gives what the sinner works hard for also to the one who pleases Him. Again, Solomon is simply making observations about how life in a world east of Eden works. And If it ended there I could sympathize with frustration.
But this is where God shows us just how radical the gospel is. Remember, we read the Bible front to back but we interpret the Bible back to front. We can read Ecclesiastes through the lens of the cross. And when we do, here’s what we find.
The gospel says Jesus was the only one who could please God because Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life. So Jesus rightfully deserved all the things that God gave him because he was the only one who could rightfully and fully please God. Yet the gospel tells us that we - the sinner - get what Jesus earned. Here the sinner doesn’t give up what he or she earned; instead we get what we couldn’t earn: the righteousness of the only One who could please God.
In sum, we couldn’t please God - Jesus did. And yet when God looks at you, Believer, He sees Christ and He is pleased with you. But it gets even better - listen to what happens when we apply this truth to our weekly work:
If we’re living in submission to and faith in Jesus - our satisfaction is not tied to our success, or our achievement, or our career. That means that our joy does not ebb and flow with our paycheck, or our promotion, or simply in how well (or not well) our work week is going. This creates a different type of person…a different type of employee, boss, and co-worker.
Here are 3 ways that the gospel creates a different type of worker.
The gospel produces someone who prioritizes people over products
The world says that we are to use people in order to get God’s good gifts. We call this the commodification of people. Essentially, we use other people the same way we use a vending machine. They are simply in our life for the purposes of giving us whatever it is that we want or think we need.
The gospel, however, says that we use God’s good gifts to serve others. It’s putting people and products in the right order. One of my favorite books on biblical productivity is called What’s Best Next. Author Matt Perman says: “According to the Bible, a truly productive life is lived in service to others. Being productive is not about seeking personal peace and affluence because God made us for greater goals” (87).
There it is - “Love God…love others” (Matthew 22). What matters most in your work is not the bottom line, it's the people God has placed in your life.
The gospel produces someone who pursues a life of stewardship
A gospel motivated person knows that everything that God has given us is on loan (see Psalm 27:1 or 1 Corinthians 6:6 for examples). That means we function as managers. We manage the things that God has given us including our jobs, the time we spend in our jobs, and the gifts God has given us to apply at our jobs. Furthermore, the Bible is clear that we will give an account of how we managed the things that God has given us (see Matthew 25:14-30).
When we apply the principle of biblical stewardship to our life we begin to see how conscious and aware we are of the good things that God has given us. In turn, we learn to thank God for the good things (like work) instead of worshipping them. The gospel helps us keep God’s good gifts in our life in their rightful place. And what is produced on the other side is a grateful and contented person.
Imagine waking up every day and going into work knowing that you don’t need that job to give you ultimate meaning and purpose. Gratitude produces contentment, which in turn results in a new kind of 9-5 freedom. God’s desire is that you find your joy in Him so that you can find enjoyment in what He’s called you to do.
Lastly,
The gospel produces someone who understands that no task or job is meaningless to God
One of my favourite verses in all of the Bible is 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” So simple and yet so profound. This verse oozes with implications and daily applications to our life.
Since our worth is not in what we do and we don’t gain status or significance based on the type of job we have - we can see all (ethical) jobs as God-glorifying and worship to Him.
Here’s what this means for you as you hear the buzz of your alarm clock go off tomorrow morning: What you do matters to God. The classroom that God placed you in matters, the diapers that you change matter, the food you cook matters, the business report you file matters, the home you construct matters. It all matters!
If you began to live every second of every day with that truth on the forefront of your mind…how much would your day change?
You’d be surprised.
