Eclesiastes 5

Eclesiastes 5

Piper - When you work like this—no matter what your vocation is—you can have a sweet sense of peace at the end of the day. I don’t think God has created us to be idle. Therefore, those who abandon creative productivity lose the joy of purposeful work. Ecclesiastes 5:12 says, “Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the surfeit of the rich will not let him sleep.” People who spend their lives mainly in idleness or frivolous leisure are rarely as happy as those who work. Most of the retired people at Bethlehem know this, and so have sought creative, useful, God-honoring ways to stay active and productive in God’s kingdom. And we should help each other in this, and with the whole problem of unemployment. It is not first an economic problem. It is first a theological problem. Human beings are created in the image of God and are endowed with traits of their creator that fit them for creative, useful, joyful work. Therefore, extensive idleness (when you have the ability to work) brings down the oppression of guilt and futility. (Why God Wills Work | Desiring God) John Butler - We use to listen to a children's program in Chicago which in one of the programs showed how some foolishly and ignorantly envy of the rich. The narrator reminded the envious that the rich he so envied ate toast and milk because he could not eat a normal meal. Wealth does not have all the advantages. I once read of a man who owned millions in wealth but literally starved to death. For many months before he died he was unable to digest any solid food. He gave great banquets, but he could not partake of the fine foods he provided for others. He could buy anything to eat he wanted, but he could not eat much of anything. Riches do not have to do that to you, but they often do. Our text contrasts the lucrative man and the laboring man. You may envy the wealthy as you labor long and hard every day, but the truth of the matter is that he may envy you. Do not begrudge your place in life. You may be without, but troubles have a way of pestering those with much. Our text contrasts the wealthy and the laborer. Folk envy the wealthy, but the laborer has what is important. - Sermon Starters - 7 The sleep of the working man is pleasant - Butler comments "Famous (and wealthy) people, such as movie stars, often die of sleeping-pill overdose. They cannot sleep because of their fame (and guilt) which they got by living the way of the flesh. They gained much in this world but lost the valuable entities such as sleep. You may flop into bed at night and be sound to sleep quickly because you are tired from your daily labor which you do to put food on the table and clothes on the back. Do not feel sorry for yourself. You have more than money can buy. As someone has said we can see the work we do as either a problem or a privilege. And the truth of Ecclesiastes 5:12 should provide us a proper perspective of our "privilege." Whether he eats little or much - This speaks of the fact that a working man does not usually have funds for excess or extravagant food. He eats beans rather than Bearnaise. The full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep - George Pullman who made a fortune as inventer of the Pullman train car said that since he got rich he did not sleep as well. We do not wish poverty on anyone but neither do we wish the curse of wealth on anyone. Do not envy those who do not have to do hard manual labor daily. Ralph Turnbull said that "There is a danger of doing too much as well as of doing too little. Life is not for work, but work for life, and when it is carried to the extent of undermining life or unduly absorbing it, work is not praiseworthy but blameworthy." As sleep is sweet to those who are wearied with labour and travail (Ecc 5:12), so also death is sweet and comfortable to the faithful, being wearied and turmoiled with sin, and with the manifold miseries of this life. (G. Petter.) John