Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 + 1 Corinthians 3:7-9
James McTyre
Lake Hills Presbyterian Church
September 2, 2012
1 Cor 3:7-9 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.9 What gain has the worker from his toil?10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of mankind to be busy with.11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into the human heart, yet so that they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.12 I perceived that there is nothing better for people than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil—this is God's gift to men and women.
Hope you're enjoying your Labor Day Weekend.
Enjoy that Friday night football game?
Kinda weird having college football on Friday.
Then again, the big high school game last weekend (that would be Maryville vs. Alcoa) was Sunday noon.
So for probably the first time since Governor William himself, there were no 11AM church services in Blount County.
Could be a sign of the Apocalypse.
Very confusing.
This week, UT played its big ACC rival (!) NC State (?) in Georgia, on Friday night, the time God clearly appointed for high school games.
But, given the result, I'm thinking maybe we should play all our games on Friday night.
Thursday, if it helps.
So, yeah.
It's also a little strange, that here we are, "celebrating" Labor Day.
Unemployment's at least at 8.3%, depending on who's counting.
40% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
And half of all Americans will die with zero financial assets.#
Around 7 million Americans work two jobs.#
The 40 hour work week went out with the 20th century.
So. Happy Labor Day, y'all.
Some of you are thinking, "Why's Reverend Gloomy Gus talking about that?"
"Must have been watching a little too much Republican Convention."
Actually, no.
Didn't watch a minute of it.
And I can't wait to not watch a minute of the Democratic Convention, too.
(Full disclosure. I DID get on the Internet to watch the Clint Eastwood thing.)
Labor, days of labor, and the data and economics of labor are not just Republican issues, nor are they just Democratic issues.
Nor are they simply the issues of organized labor and the unions that represent people who work in hazardous jobs, like NFL Referees.
Labor, days of labor, and the economics of labor are Bible issues, too.
In fact, they were religious issues long before they belonged to the economists.
The Bible talks a lot about people who work.
How they work.
What they're paid for their work.
And how they should enjoy their work and the fruits of their labor.
In the Bible, every day's Labor Day.
--
You know the passage from Ecclesiastes that we read earlier.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
That's very poetic, but around verse 9, though, he gets to his main point.
All preachers need a minute to get warmed up.
He says,
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
And, then, in verse 12:
I perceived that there is nothing better for [people] than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all [their] toil—this is God's gift to man[kind].
In other words,
if you work for living,
and if you enjoy your work,
if your work affords you some living,
if your work is more than a wage,
if your living is more than your work,
this is God's gift to you.
If your work is more than a wage, if your living is more than your work, you're one lucky son or daughter of God.
Because not everybody gets to say that.
It's ironic that we read this passage - which really is about work - a lot of times we read it at funerals.
You know what people say.
No one on their deathbed ever says, "Gee, I wish I had worked more."
And then we turn around and read Ecclesiastes - a book about work - at their funeral.
Maybe some people do say that.
Maybe some people do wish they had worked more.
If your job is composing great symphonies or creating great works of art for the world's appreciation, maybe you wish you had.
If your job is curing children's diseases in Third World countries, maybe you do wish you'd worked a little more.
If your job is changing diapers, or managing a household,
If your job is bringing dignity, or bringing education, or bringing justice to people who can't get it on their own, I think it would be OK to say you wished you'd worked a little more.
Because you've been given a gift.
You're lucky.
Because not everyone can say that.
Which is a shame.
Because it's God's idea that you should be able to say it.
According to the Bible, according to Ecclesiastes, there's nothing - absolutely nothing - better.
I perceived that there is nothing better for [people] than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all [their] toil—this is God's gift to man[kind].
Labor Day might be an American holiday.
But give God credit for the idea.
...there is nothing better for [people] than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all [their] toil...
--
Every year at tax season, I drive past those people the tax company has dress up as the Statue of Liberty.
Their faces are painted green.
They have those foam spikes on their head.
A plastic torch.
And they have to stand on the curb and smile as they wave to everyone who drives by.
Sometimes they dance.
And every year, I think to myself, "That has got to be the worst job in the world."
I mean, really.
Give Lady Liberty - or Mr. Lady Liberty - some dignity. Please.
I feel so bad for them I want to have my taxes done there out of sheer pity.
But what if the person dressed up turns out to be one of their accountants?
And, that's the way they normally dress?
Is this supposed to inspire consumer confidence?
No matter what it is you do, there are days when your job is going to make you feel undignified.
If you're a teacher, you will have a pair of shoes ruined during flu season.
You will have a parent yell at you because you failed her child just because he didn't know any answers on the exam.
Or maybe you don't have a job, or someone in your household doesn't have a job.
Maybe you're one of the (12.8 million) Americans out of work.#
And you're thinking, "Gee, I'd be great at undignified work, because the job market's making me an expert."
And maybe you're thinking, "Um, excuse me, God? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing with my life? Is this your plan?"
And the answer, straight from the Bible, is:
No.
God's intent is for your work to bring you dignity.
That you should be able to eat and drink, and find joy in what you do - whatever that is 40, or 50, or 168 hours every week.
Whether you're paid for your work, or not.
Or retired from your work.
Or disabled from your work.
God's intent is dignity.
God's intent is joy.
And while there may well be a time for productivity and a time for futility,
a time for prosperity and a time for recession -
while there may be those times,
all your times - all your time - is a gift from God.
It is never God's intent that you work, or toil in vain.
it is never God's intent that you live in vain.
If you're ready to throw your hands up and say, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity,"
if all your labor feels like an exercise in vacant futility,
if that's where you're at,
you are closer to the Bible than you could ever know.
--
Last year, the New York Daily News published a lovely article about the history of Labor Day.
According to the New York Daily News, Labor Day began in - where else? - New York City, naturally, the source of all that is good.
Reading the article, you can imagine the scene like something out of a movie.
"On Sept. 5, 1882, 20,000 workers from all trades marched up Broadway to demand an eight-hour workday and other reforms before picnicking and enjoying "lager beer kegs ... mounted in every conceivable place," ... Other cities followed suit until Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894."#
Whether these festive, curly-moustached, immigrant unionists were, in truth, the origin of Labor Day is for historians to decide.
But it seems reasonable.
The source of the holiday, like the source of good works, isn't as important as the good that grows.
Like the Apostle Paul said, "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ...For we are God's servants, working together."
Individually, we may be people battling frustration and futility.
But when you put us together, we're God's hands, and God's feet, working as the Body of Christ, clearing the way, so God can provide the growth.
Your Labor Day celebration might involve football.
Or fireworks.
Or "lager beer kegs ... mounted in every conceivable place."
Or a big nap.
How you celebrate isn't so important.
The point is that you step back.
Take a break.
And take a look at your work, the way a painter steps back and looks at what she's done.
If you look real close, you might begin to see that it's not your work in the first place.
It never was.
You might find that you thought you were doing one job, when really, something else was going on all along.
Because, you're never the only one at work.
You'll see the brush strokes of your friends.
You'll see the colorful marks of your family.
You'll feel the inspiration of your church.
And if you look real hard, you'll see that God's at work, too.
And even where you feel like you might be toiling in vain, God is guiding your hand.
God is giving growth.
God is working, too.
Even when we think God's on vacation, every day is God's Labor Day.
Let's pray.
