Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life

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Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life

• Wisdom About Work

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Two Views of the World
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Americans worship their work, work at their
play, and play at their worship.
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The Big Questions

• Is life a job?
• Is fatigue next to godliness?
• Is a handout preferable to a workout?

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THE VANITY OF LABOUR UNDER THE SUN
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• Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled
  under the sun, because I must leave it to the man
  who will come after me. And who knows whether he
  will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all
  my labor in which I toiled and in which I have
  shown myself wise under the sun. This also is
  vanity. Therefore I turned my heart and despaired
  of all the labor in which I had toiled under the
  sun. For there is a man whose labor is with
  wisdom, knowledge, and skill yet he must leave
  his heritage to a man who has not labored for it.
  This also is vanity and a great evil. For what
  has man for all his labor, and for the striving
  of his heart with which he has toiled under the
  sun? (Ecclesiastes 218-22)

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Wisdom Statements

• All we attain will be left to another.
• The beneficiary may quickly waste or lose that
  which has been gained in years of toil.
• Work has its own attending worry, anxiety, and
  pressure.

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• Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful
  work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also
  is vanity and grasping for the wind. Then I
  returned, and I saw vanity under the sun There
  is one alone, without companion He has neither
  son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his
  labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But
  he never asks, For whom do I toil and deprive
  myself of good? This also is vanity and a grave
  misfortune. (Ecclesiastes 44-8)

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Wisdom Statements

• Excessive work is often the result of a "keep-up
  the Jones' attitude", v. 4
• Many are so busy working they deprive themselves
  of the simple pleasures of life and then discover
  there is no one to benefit from their labor, v. 8

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• All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet
  the soul is not satisfied. For what more has the
  wise man than the fool? What does the poor man
  have, who knows how to walk before the living?
  (Ecclesiastes 67-9)

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Wisdom Statements

• There is vanity in living for our appetites, v.
  7.
• The appetite of the wise man is never satisfied
  nor is there any advantage to the man who has
  little, v. 8.

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GUIDEPOSTS FOR LIVING
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Idleness is not the answer to the
vanity of labor.

• The fool folds his hands and consumes his own
  flesh. (Ecclesiastes 45)
• Because of laziness the building decays, and
  through idleness of hands the house leaks.
  (Ecclesiastes 1018)

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Learn the value of working hard

• Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your
  might for there is no work or device or
  knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are
  going. (Ecclesiastes 910)

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Prepare for an uncertain future

• If the clouds are full of rain, they empty
  themselves upon the earth and if a tree falls to
  the south or the north, in the place where the
  tree falls, there it shall lie. He who observes
  the wind will not sow, and he who regards the
  clouds will not reap. As you do not know what is
  the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the
  womb of her who is with child, so you do not know
  the works of God who makes everything. In the
  morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not
  withhold your hand for you do not know which
  will prosper, either this or that, or whether
  both alike will be good. (Ecclesiastes 113-6)

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Learn the value of rest and the enjoyment of what
you have!

• Better a handful with quietness than both hands
  full, together with toil and grasping for the
  wind. (Ecclesiastes 46)
• Better is the sight of the eyes than the
  wandering of desire. This also is vanity and
  grasping for the wind. (Ecclesiastes 69)

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• Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from
  them. I did not withhold my heart from any
  pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor
  and this was my reward from all my labor.
• Nothing is better for a man than that he should
  eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy
  good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the
  hand of God. (Ecclesiastes 210,24)
• I know that nothing is better for them than to
  rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also
  that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the
  good of all his laborit is the gift of God.
  (Ecclesiastes 312-13)