Ecclesiastes 4: There Is No Perfect Job, Work With God

Introduction

"Anyone here by the way have a perfect job? If you do, put your hand in the air." The question comes at the start of this fifth message in a series on Ecclesiastes, preached by Guy Miller, an elder at Westminster Chapel in London. Today's topic: finding the perfect job. "Not a difficult subject at all," he jokes.

He grew up with teaching that said God keeps the perfect job for every Christian: well paid, one that puts a smile on your face every morning, made for your gifts, that earns you recognition from God and others, and that is "never, ever, ever" boring. Ecclesiastes comes to shake up that dream.

Drawing on the whole book, the preacher first shows that God himself works. He then describes two dead ends, that of the sluggard and that of the slave of Babylon, before presenting good work in the kingdom of God, in the light of Jesus.

Message outline

1. A Book That Stings Like an Ox Goad

Eugene Peterson describes Ecclesiastes as a book in the manner of John the Baptist, "a cold bath, shocking and cleansing". The book itself compares the words of the wise to goads (Ecclesiastes 12:11). "If you feel a prick this morning, that is exactly the idea."
It speaks to Christians who announce the apocalypse and stockpile tinned food, as well as to those who think God will never let anything bad happen to them. "There is no quick fix, no easy answers, no glossy snake oil Christianity. This is real faith."
The preacher picks up the image of bubbles, used earlier in the series by Andy: the word translated "vanity" means vapor. A bubble can shine in the light, but it always ends up bursting. All our lives, work included, end up hitting the hard surfaces of death, of the end, of God and of judgment.
He points out two important things. First, the work he is talking about is paid or unpaid: the stay-at-home mother, the person caring for an elderly parent, and the retired person involved in their neighborhood or church are all working.
Second, church work is not the highest goal in life. "We're all full-time workers for Jesus Christ." God is no more interested in this morning's sermon than in you washing and feeding an elderly relative. What he looks at is your faithfulness in what has been entrusted to you.

2. God Is a God Who Works

The preacher starts from the conclusion of the book: "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth" (Ecclesiastes 12:1). To understand work, we need to remember God.
From Genesis 1:1, God creates. Day after day, he works: "Making the solar system is a fairly impressive amount of work, isn't it?"
To the man and woman made in his image, God does not say: here is a deckchair and a sunset beach, enjoy. He blesses them and says to them: "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28). Work existed in the perfect Eden, and God said it was good.
"We need to redeem work and see that it is good." Even eternity is not a cloud and a harp: there will be work in the new heavens and the new earth, work that pleases God.
God still works today: Jesus upholds all things by his powerful word, down to the falling apple and the tides.
And yet, on the seventh day, he rested. The Sabbath was made for people. "If God needs to do it, who are we to say: I can work seven days a week? That is arrogant."

3. The Sluggard and His Song

The preacher is a gardener. After hours of sowing, watering and nurturing, he finds his seedlings eaten the next morning by three fat slugs. The English word for a lazy person comes from this idea: slow, slimy, slow to act.
Proverbs paints the portrait: he turns on his bed like a door on its hinges, he says there is a lion in the street, he is too lazy to bring his hand from the dish to his mouth.
His voice is heard in Ecclesiastes: "What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?" (1:3). A miserable task (1:13), a hated life (2:17), days of pain and nights without rest (2:23). The sluggard concludes: what is the point of working hard? And if you have to work, do it slowly.
The preacher tells of his very first day at work. He is handed hundreds of sheets of calculations for buildings, to check on an old calculator. In the evening, he announces that he has finished. His boss replies: "Finished? That was the week's work. Slow it down. Go and talk football, hang around the coffee machine, make mistakes, deliberately. That is how it is done here."
"That is not the way it is done in the kingdom of God." Yet he admits he learned the lesson well: leaving at 3 p.m., making up site visits to get home early. He even sings the sluggard's song to the congregation: "Work is all very well in its place, but I'd rather see other folk do it."
The sluggard is often very vocal about other people's work. The answer is in Ecclesiastes 9:10: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might." The preacher makes it an ambition for life, whether you are employed or not: if God gives you an opportunity to work, put all your energy into it and do good work.

4. The Perfect Job in the Kingdom of Babylon

Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 describes the other dead end: houses, vineyards, gardens, pools, servants, herds, silver, gold, singers. "Whatever my eyes desired, I didn't keep from them." In the end: vanity and chasing after wind.
For the preacher, Ecclesiastes 4:4 is one of the sharpest words for those who work in Babylon: all labor and achievement is the envy of a man's neighbor. Why did he get the recognition, the promotion? Why did she get the bonus? You loved your job, then you saw what someone else posted on social media, and dissatisfaction settled in.
His youngest son borrowed a convertible Porsche worth 180,000 pounds for two days and was amazed at how much jealousy the car stirred up around him. "We can have so much peace and joy as Christians." But as soon as others seem to be doing better, we step onto the treadmill to catch up.
Ecclesiastes 4:5-6 works as an electric shock: "The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself. Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind."
Visiting his eldest son in America, the preacher steps onto a treadmill for the first time. His son makes him let go of the bars, speeds it up, and the stop button is soon out of reach. "There are so many people on this treadmill who can't get off." More and more hours, one more qualification to get.
Babylon, in the Bible, means a fallen society under the control of the enemy. We can become proud of our long hours, our late evenings, the children we no longer see, our two days of holiday a year, and even our ulcers. "The world mankind created is fit only for robots." Only perfection satisfies our bosses, and our imperfections push us to work ever more, to the point of exhaustion.
The solution is not to go and live on a desert island. Jesus prays: "I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world" (John 17:15-16). The world meant here is Babylon's outlook, hostile to God, where people are goods. One day, this Babylon will fall (Revelation 18).
Are there jobs that God forbids? The preacher thinks of those that deprive the poor, promote injustice or inflame sensuality, and believes a Christian should not do such jobs. He considers it very difficult for a Christian to work in the pornography industry or in gambling, because they hurt people and destroy lives. For the rest, we are all called to work in Babylon, without being caught up in its goals, with a higher purpose: to glorify Jesus.

5. How to Live in Babylon

The preacher once had a first boss who hated him because he was a Christian and because he worked too fast. He draws a few lessons from this, all taken from Ecclesiastes.
Remember your Creator. Do not work for God as for a boss who watches you from above. Work with him: he is with you and in you through the Holy Spirit. Ask Jesus for help with what weighs you down. And rest. He admits it is one of the hardest things for him: after an hour of reading or on a day off, he feels guilty. God simply says: "Rest. Sit down with me. Enjoy my presence."
Work as a team. "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor" (4:9). In his church, a team of seven elders leads together: it is a great protection against pride. Draw other people into your work.
Accept that work will never fulfill you. "The appetite is not filled" (6:7). Being a pastor is not a perfect job either, it is often even frustrating. You do your best, without expecting work to satisfy you.
You can make a difference. "A man's wisdom makes his face shine" (8:1). You are the salt of the earth and a city on a hill: your workplace is blessed because you are part of it, even if no one knows. Looking at a person in the congregation who works at the hospital, he thinks of the Christians in the British health service: "They shine, because they work for another Lord."
Pass the baton well. There is a time for everything (3:1-2), every bubble will eventually burst. You only run one lap: make sure the person running after you can give their best. "I'm 65. I don't bounce back as much." We all grow older, and that is normal.
Give forward. "Cast your bread on the waters" (11:1). Bless the world you live in: a kind word, a gesture, a gift, a little thank-you note. In God's economy, he believes it comes back with his blessing.
Keep your integrity. "A good name is better than fine perfume" (7:1).

6. Good Work in the Kingdom of God

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26, repeated in 5:18-19, sets the tone: there is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink and enjoy their work, and this too comes from the hand of God.
"Even in an imperfect, fallen world, enjoy." Thank God for one more day of work. You work for him, not for your employer: an audience of one.
God gives legitimate pleasures: a good meal, a glass of wine. The preacher calls us to get back into the habit of saying grace before meals, and to give thanks for work, for something to do with our hands, for the gifts that let us bless the world.
"There is no place for the grumpy Christian at work." Whether you are a gynecologist, you clean for an elderly lady or you look after screaming children, God is with you for your good and for his glory.

7. Looking to Jesus and Responding

Work hard and do good work. God became flesh, worked in a carpenter's workshop, became a preacher, and humbled himself to the point of death on the cross. "Nothing was beneath Jesus." He took the last place and brought God's glory into every situation.
Be faithful. Jesus was faithful in God's house (Hebrews 3). "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much" (Luke 16:10). Faithful in how you speak about your boss, in your punctuality, in your attitude when others gossip. "Being late isn't bringing glory to God."
Finish well. On the cross, Jesus said: "It is finished." He completed the work the Father had given him, and that is why those who call on his name can be saved. Do not leave your work half done.
Jesus began his ministry with "Blessed are the poor in spirit": blessed are those who ask for God's help, as a child does not hesitate to call on their parents for help.
The preacher invites three groups to come forward for prayer: those looking for a job or dreaming of changing, often with shame; those who are worn out, slaves of Babylon, "like a hamster on a wheel"; and those who love their work but do not know where it is leading them. He does not want this word to be snatched away by the birds, but to fall on good soil.

Key takeaways

The perfect job does not exist, but work is good: God works, he gave work in Eden and he will give it in the new creation.
No work is more spiritual than another. Paid or not, at church or elsewhere, God looks at your faithfulness.
There are two dead ends: laziness that asks "what is the point?" and the race of Babylon, fed by jealousy, which leaves you exhausted.
Rest is part of God's plan. If God rested on the seventh day, working without ever stopping is nothing heroic.
Look to Jesus: he worked with his hands, he was faithful and he completed the work the Father had entrusted to him.

Personal application

In your current work, paid or not, are you more like the sluggard or like the person running on Babylon's treadmill?
What comparison with others is feeding your dissatisfaction at work right now?
Are you working for God as for a boss who is watching you, or with him, asking for his help?
When did you last truly rest, without guilt, in God's presence?
What small act of faithfulness can you do this week: your punctuality, the way you talk about your boss, a thank-you note?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Is there a perfect job for every Christian?

No. The preacher grew up with the idea that God keeps a well-paid, exciting and never boring job for every Christian. Ecclesiastes says something else: "the appetite is not filled" (Ecclesiastes 6:7). Even being a pastor is not a perfect job. You do your best, with God, knowing that nothing here below will fulfill you.

What does "working in Babylon" mean?

In the Bible, Babylon represents a fallen society, under the control of the enemy, where people become goods and where profit is the supreme goal. We are all called to work there, without withdrawing from the world (John 17:15), but without adopting its goals: our higher purpose is to glorify Jesus.

Does church work matter more in God's eyes?

No. The preacher insists: church work is not the highest goal in life. We are all full-time workers for Jesus Christ. God is no more interested in a sermon than in someone caring for an elderly parent. What he looks at is faithfulness in what has been entrusted to us, whether the work is paid or unpaid.