Proper 13 C
Labor Day
Ecc. 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26
31 July 2016 – Redeemer
The Church’s calendar is not the world’s calendar. You’ve probably noticed this – Americans might be celebrating Independence Day and the Church is having the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. Mother’s Day might be the 6th Sunday of Easter. Even though Labor Day isn’t until September, today might well be called Labor Day, because the readings teach us how we ought to view not only our work, but the Lord’s work.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus tells the story of a very successful man, a rich farmer whose fields produced a bumper crop. He had so much corn and soybeans he didn’t have enough bins to store them. “What shall I do?” he asked. “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years, relax, eat, drink, be merry.’” What would it take for you to speak the words of that rich man? To relax? A million dollars saved in your 401k? A guaranteed pension? Health care till you die? What would it take for you say, “Ah soul, you’ve made it. Relax. Your working days are over. It’s time to enjoy yourself. Eat, drink, be merry.”
In today’s Old Testament reading, King Solomon, the Preacher, is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Not that he is poor, but he despairs of all his wealth. Scripture tells us that Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived and he had more wealth and riches than any king on earth. (1 Kings 10:23) But during his life Solomon’s wisdom turned away from God. Instead of loving God’s Word he loved himself and pursued what he wanted. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines, many from foreign lands outside of Israel, and they turned him against God to worship false gods. (1 King 11:14). Near the end of his life, God gave Solomon a most humbling wisdom toward all his wealth and accomplishments, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”
God gives us two nuggets of wisdom about our work from these readings. First, your work will not give you life now or life with God. The rich farmer with a bumper crop and plans for the future died that very night. He was condemned by God, for while he was rich toward the world, he was not rich towards God. The second bit of wisdom about work is this — all that you have is not really yours because you don’t get to keep it. Thus says Solomon, “I must leave it to the man who will come after me … This also is vanity.”
This wisdom from God calls us to repent. If you hope in your work and cannot wait until you’ve made it – repent. If you look around the world and your own future and you despair of life because you realize you’re chasing the wind – repent. Repent, turn away from worshipping your work as your life and instead receive the work of Christ. This is what Saint Paul says it in today’s Epistle, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Seek the things above where Christ is seated. Why is Christ seated at God’s right hand? Because His work is done. You sit down when your work is finished and Christ’s work is not only finished, His work is an everlasting work. For us men and for our salvation He became a man. In that human flesh He received from Mary He worked – He worked keeping the commandments. He worked fighting Satan’s temptation. He worked preaching and delivering the Kingdom of God to earth. The greatest work He worked was worked upon Him. His Father laid on Him all our sins and then laid on Jesus our suffering, our death, our hell. God’s anger was worked out on Christ until it was finished,
The debt of sin was paid in full by the work of Jesus at the cross. You are forgiven and that brings eternal blessings – eternal life and the resurrection of your body. All that work is done and the signature on that completed job is the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, was welcomed home in triumph by His Father and now sits at God’s right hand. Your forgiveness is bought and paid for. Sure and certain. Given to you. Christ is your life. It (the work for your life) is finished.
This work of Christ helps us to put our work in perspective. Every appointed reading this morning teaches us the chief sin when it comes to work – me. Listen to the rich man in the Gospel. “What shall I do? I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones … and I will say to my soul.” What does Solomon lament? I hated my toil in which I toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me. When Saint Paul calls us to live holy lives in the Epistle – what does he speak against? Idolatry with a capital “I.” The worship of me as the source and substance of my life – pursuing what I want for myself, contrary to God’s gifts and desires: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. Repent – your work, your pleasures, your pursuits will not result in true life, real life, everlasting life. That work belongs to Christ alone and remember He finished it.
How should you regard your work properly? Regard your work as God’s Work – that’s right. Your work is God’s Work. What you have, what you earn, what you enjoy is not yours, but is the Lord’s. When you die He’ll give all that He gave you to someone else, but for now He has given it to you to use. God doesn’t need your work – He is completely satisfied with Christ, but your neighbor needs you. Your work as a father or mother is the Lord’s way to care for your children. That’s why He created male and female for marriage, so that when men and women have children He can care for them in a family with a father and a mother. Your work as a nurse, or teacher, or business owner – is the Lord’s way of caring for the sick, imparting knowledge, creating work for others. Your work is service to the Lord – not for salvation – Jesus took care of that, but for serving the Lord by serving your neighbor.
Finally, we should look on our work with joy. By God’s grace, Solomon came to this conclusion near the end of his life. There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God. We can look on our work with joy because our work doesn’t save us – Christ does. We work with joy because in our work God provides us daily with our needs. The added joy is that in our work we serve God by serving our neighbor. That’s the Lord’s wisdom for your work. Happy Labor day or as it is called on the church calendar – Happy 11th Sunday after Pentecost. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
30 July 2016 anno Domini