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12: When Work Feels Empty · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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course.
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Check it out at FindingGodAtWork.org.
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Our current series is Divine Disappointments, Facing Pain
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and Sorrow at Work.
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When I was an undergrad, I heard a
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lecture from a painter and I've forgotten his
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name.
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So if this story sounds familiar to any
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of you and you know who this painter
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is, I would love to look him up.
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There was a painter who had a separate
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kind of barn where he stored all of
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his works in progress.
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So he had his studio where he had
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his current work, but then all of the
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projects kind of throughout his life that he
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had never quite finished, he had stored in
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this barn.
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And one day the barn caught fire and
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everything burned to the ground.
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Now, if I had been in that situation,
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I would have felt so grieved.
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That sense of waste, right?
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All of the hundreds of hours represented in
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those projects, none of them will get to
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come to fruition now.
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It's just a waste.
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It's just an emptiness, a pile of ash,
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literally.
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Now, I want to come back to what
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the painter said about his experience when that
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happened.
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But I just want to sit there in
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the ashes for a bit here.
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Sometimes work feels empty.
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Sometimes it feels like a waste.
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Sometimes it feels utterly meaningless.
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In our first episode of the series, we
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quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes.
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I want to go back to Ecclesiastes today
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and just lean into that sense that work
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sometimes feels like it has no point at
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all.
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So reading from chapter 4, this is starting
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in verse 4 as well.
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And I saw that all toil and all
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achievements spring from one person's envy of another.
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This too is meaningless, a chasing after the
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wind.
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Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.
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Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls
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with toil and chasing after the wind.
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Again, I saw something meaningless under the sun.
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There was a man all alone.
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He had neither son nor brother.
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There was no end to his toil.
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Yet his eyes were not content with his
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wealth.
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For whom am I toiling?
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He asked.
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And why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?
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This too is meaningless, a miserable business.
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Sometimes work just feels like a miserable business.
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Sometimes work feels empty.
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And in this passage, I think we see
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a couple reasons why work can feel empty.
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So I want to look at actually three
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reasons why work can feel empty and then
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how Jesus helps us move from that experience
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to something better in each of those three
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scenarios.
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So the first one is work can feel
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empty because of unhealthy competition.
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We see this in verse four when he
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says that, I saw that all toil and
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all achievements spring from one person's envy of
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another.
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So often it's envy.
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It's that sense of comparison to someone else
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that can drive our work performance.
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Whether that's envy of somebody else's status in
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their work or envy of somebody else's lifestyle
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that they have because of the wealth they've
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been able to build up because of their
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work, kind of keeping up with the Joneses.
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You work to compete with others, but when
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do you actually win?
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When do you win?
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How much money is enough?
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How much status is enough?
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At what point do you sit back and
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say like, oh yeah, yeah, this is good.
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This is good.
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Often when we have that kind of unhealthy
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competitive drive, it's actually impossible to be satisfied
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or to be content.
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Partly because the unhealthy side of competition is
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often rooted in a fragile ego.
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We want to have a deeper sense of
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personal security about who we are as people,
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and so we get a little bit of
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that by being better than someone else.
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But that's an ego project that's doomed to
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fail because there's always going to be somebody
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out there who's better than you.
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Even if you happen to be the best
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in the world at something, you won't be
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the best in the world forever.
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Eventually, you'll age out of performance and somebody
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in the next generation will be better than
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you, even if they aren't better than your
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previous record.
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A second reason that work can feel empty
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is what it takes away.
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We see this where it talks about the
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worker who doesn't have an heir.
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He doesn't have a son or a brother,
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and he says to himself, for whom am
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I toiling and why am I depriving myself
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of enjoyment?
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So this sense that when you're working, there's
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an opportunity cost there.
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You can't be doing other things instead of
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working while you're working.
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You can't be kicking back and relaxing while
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you're applying effort.
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You're engaging in delayed gratification.
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But is the gratification delayed forever?
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Seems to be what this particular man is
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asking.
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He's like, man, it's not like I'm going
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to pass on this inheritance to somebody else.
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Why am I working so hard?
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What's the point of it all?
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Work can feel empty when we're sacrificing things
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that we know matter in life, in this
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case, just a sense of general enjoyment.
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But often we sacrifice family relationships.
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We sacrifice emotional well-being.
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We sacrifice our commitment to our local community
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of faith in the church.
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We sacrifice care for our bodies.
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There are so many things that we're willing
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to sort of put on the altar of
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work productivity.
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And yet, is it really worth it?
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Are the sacrifices that we're putting on that
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altar correspondingly recompensed from our work productivity?
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Often not.
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And then a third reason that work can
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feel empty is maybe more hinted at in
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this passage, but a dehumanizing design for work.
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So in verse five, it says, fools fold
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their hands and ruin themselves.
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Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls
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with toil and chasing after the wind.
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So there's this sense of like, almost like
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damned if you do, damned if you don't.
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On the one hand, if you don't work,
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you're going to ruin yourself.
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On the other hand, if you do work,
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you might get two handfuls, but then you
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have this toil and chasing after the wind.
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You have all these raw experiences that are
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associated with dedicating yourself to work.
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And so there's something dehumanizing about the whole
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setup of the situation.
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It's like, you can't win, right?
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If you try to disengage, you end up
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in the ditch.
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If you try to engage, you end up
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in the ditch.
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And this obviously was an ancient text talking
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about those potential pitfalls of just the reality
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and the design of work.
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There's also particularly modern ways in which this
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sort of dehumanizing design of work can happen.
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So for this, I want to go briefly
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to a book by Lee Hardy.
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It's called The Fabric of This World, really
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helpful book, just kind of digging into the
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theology of work in general.
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And one thing that this book does that
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many others and the kind of faith at
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work movement don't get to is looking at,
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well, what's the basic design of work in
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our society?
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And how does that reflect God's design of
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the human person or not?
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So Lee Hardy's writing here about how in
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the industrial age, there was more and more
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a move towards designing work as though people
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were machines, designing work as though people could
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be hyper efficient, productive by focusing their work
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in a very specialized way, which just like
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do this task over and over on the
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factory floor.
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And Lee Hardy quotes from Peter Drucker here
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in order to analyze this.
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So Hardy writes, the problem is that human
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beings are not machines.
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In fact, they make lousy machines.
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Machines, Drucker points out, work best if they
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do only one task, if they do it
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repetitively, and if they do the simplest possible
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task.
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Machines work best if run at the same
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speed, the same rhythm, and with a minimum
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of moving parts.
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On the other hand, the human being is
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engineered quite differently.
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For any one task and any one operation,
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the human being is ill-suited.
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He lacks strength.
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He lacks stamina.
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He gets fatigued.
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All together, he is a very poorly designed
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machine tool.
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The human being excels, however, in coordination.
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He excels in relating perception to action.
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He works best if the entire human being
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muscles, senses, and mind is engaged by the
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work.
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So you can see that Lee Hardy and
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then quoting Peter Drucker are looking at, well,
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what are human beings good at?
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And what we're good at, what we seem
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to be made for, is a kind of
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coordinated, complex, problem solving effort where we're bringing
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disparate parts together to work on something.
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But when you treat a human being like
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a machine, they're actually not a very good
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machine, and it's dehumanizing to them, because human
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beings are not machines.
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And so when you treat them like machines,
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that takes a psychological toll and a physical
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toll on them over time.
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So we have this tendency in workplaces that
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are dedicated to efficiency, but without bearing in
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mind what the experience is like for the
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human worker, there can be a very dehumanizing
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effect of the design of work itself in
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our modern factories and even in our modern
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office environments.
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So these are our three reasons why work
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can feel empty.
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It can feel empty because of unhealthy competition.
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It can feel empty because of what it
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takes away.
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And it can feel empty because of a
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dehumanizing design to the whole work situation.
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So how can Jesus help us respond to
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each of these three scenarios when work feels
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empty?
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Well, like I said in other episodes, the
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first thing Jesus does is he's just with
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us when we feel raw or empty or
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disillusioned about work.
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I think the Ecclesiastes passage shows us that
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God understands just how much your job sucks
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and he wants to be there with you.
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So I think that's our first thing for
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all situations where work feels empty is just
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to come to Jesus, to talk to Jesus
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about how we really feel and to welcome
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his presence into that situation.
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But then I think Jesus also can redeem
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those situations.
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He can help us move into kingdom life
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even in the middle of very difficult circumstances.
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And so I want to look at three
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ways that that can be.
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So first with the sense of unhealthy competition.
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Unhealthy competition, if it's rooted in the fragile
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ego, is all about looking at somebody else
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and seeing them as an antagonist, seeing them
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as an opponent.
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So what's the alternative to that?
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The alternative to that is to look at
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someone else and love them, to look at
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someone else and ask, how can I help
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them win?
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We remember the teaching of Jesus from Matthew
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chapter five, love your enemies and pray for
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those who persecute you.
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If Jesus calls us to love literal enemies,
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people who are seeking our harm, how much
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more can we love competitors, people who just
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happen to be doing the same sort of
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thing that we are, but differently than us?
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Dallas Willard, in his interpretation of this passage,
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he asked this question.
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Are you earnestly praying for God's best blessings
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to come upon someone who has hurt you,
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stolen from you, harmed your children or other
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loved ones, ruined your reputations or your hopes?
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Are you enthusiastically pulling for the success of
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a competitor for favor or position or financial
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gain?
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Whoa!
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Whoa!
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That's a really challenging vision of life, isn't
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it?
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But that's what Jesus invites us into.
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And how does he invite us into it?
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It's by the experience of his own love.
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When we can rest in God's love for
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us, then our ego is secure and we
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don't have to secure it by being better
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than other people.
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We're instead free to love them, even those
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who are in competition with us.
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Okay, so a memorable way to remember this
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point, when you're in competition, you're afraid of
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losing, right?
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That's the thing you're trying to avoid.
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You don't want to lose versus others, but
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Jesus invites us into loving.
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So we're moving from losing to loving.
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Okay, what about that second idea that work
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takes things away from us?
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Well, I think that when we keep sacrificing
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things to work, when we keep saying yes
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to work and no to everything else in
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our life, it's a sign that we have
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a kind of bondage to work.
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We are slaving for work.
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If we can't say no to it, if
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we can't set a boundary with work, then
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we're enslaved.
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But we know that one of the Ten
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Commandments, one of the basic teachings of Judeo
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-Christian ethics, is this teaching on the Sabbath.
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And out of all of the Ten Commandments,
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it's the only ritual command.
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It's the only one that's not particularly about
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how you relate to God or to other
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people in what we might think of as
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ethically, but rather saying this is a practice
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that you really need to keep.
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I'll just read the original text from Exodus
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chapter 20 here, verse 8.
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Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
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Six days you shall labor and do all
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your work, but the seventh day is a
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Sabbath to the Lord your God.
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On it you shall not do any work,
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neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor
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your male or female servant, nor your animals,
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nor any foreigner residing in your towns.
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For in six days the Lord made the
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heavens and the earth, the sea, and all
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that is in them, but he rested on
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the seventh day.
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Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and
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made it holy.
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So when we're tempted to slave for work,
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we're ignoring that God is actually the first
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designer of work, right?
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God is the first worker.
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And that's what this passage points us to,
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that God created the world in six days.
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He was at work, and then he rested.
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So this design for our lives where we
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work, but we also rest is built into
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the fabric of the universe itself.
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It's a blessing.
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God blessed the seventh day and made it
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holy.
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And so we deny ourselves a blessing that
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God has given to every human worker when
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we slave to work.
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So the invitation from Jesus is to move
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from slavery to Sabbath, to say, God himself
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gives me permission to set boundaries with my
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work, to look at work and say no,
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so that I can prioritize other things that
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I know truly matter, whether that's, again, just
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personal rest, time with family, time in community,
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time for worship, etc.
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Okay, so Jesus leads us from worrying about
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losing to instead loving.
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He leads us from slavery to work to
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instead Sabbath.
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Now what about the design of work, when
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the design of work itself is dehumanizing?
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Well, obviously, Sabbath can speak to that as
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well, but I think that Jesus gives us
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even more than Sabbath when we think about
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dehumanizing contexts for work.
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So, for example, literal slavery is a dehumanizing
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context for work, and Scripture speaks to people
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who are in this position.
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And what does it say in Colossians 3,
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23?
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It's addressing early Christians who are enslaved.
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We don't have time to build the whole
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cultural context there.
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In some ways, it might be more similar
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to, like, indentured servitude than what we often
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think of with the word slavery.
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But this is what Colossians 3, 23 and
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the next verses say.
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Whatever you do, work at it with all
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your heart as working for the Lord, not
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for human masters, since you know that you
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will receive an inheritance from the Lord as
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a reward.
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It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
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Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for
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their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.
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So, Jesus is doing something really fascinating here.
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He's saying you're inside of a dehumanizing work
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context where you're not getting much reward for
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your work.
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He says, if that's the case, you do
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that work for me, and I will reward
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you.
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You will receive an inheritance from the Lord
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as a reward.
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And then also, interestingly, he says he's going
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to reward the people who have been mistreating
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you too, right?
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So, anyone who does wrong will be repaid
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for their wrongs, because people show favoritism, but
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God does not.
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So, there will be accountability for those who
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oppress others, who create dehumanizing work circumstances in
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God's ultimate justice.
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And yet, God also will keep track of
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all the efforts we've done.
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And whatever we do, if we do it
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with a sense of, I'm trying to do
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this to do the right thing by God
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and by my neighbor, Jesus will reward us
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for that.
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And so, I think that can imbue work
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that feels meaningless or empty with divine meaning.
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That Jesus is saying, hey, you're really doing
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it for me.
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That makes it meaningful, even if it feels
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meaningless in terms of the human context.
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So, if the kind of modern dehumanizing thing
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is treating people like machines, Jesus is instead
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inviting us into deep meaning in service for
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him.
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So, Jesus helps us move from machine to
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meaning, or finding meaning even when we're being
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treated like machines.
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So, I think those are three ways that
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Jesus helps redeem the experience of when work
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feels empty.
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He helps us move from worrying about losing
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to loving.
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He helps us move from slavery to Sabbath.
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And he helps us move from that kind
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of dehumanizing machine to meaning.
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That painter, who I mentioned at the beginning
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of the episode, when his barn burned down,
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you know what he said afterwards?
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He said, that was the best thing that
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ever happened to me in my creative life,
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because he was finally able to let go
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of all those old projects and move into
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new things.
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Now, I think that's a beautiful image of
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how he allowed God to redeem his experience
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of loss.
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And I think that God can do something
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similar for us when we're surrounded by the
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ashes of the emptiness of work.
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Maybe God's actually bringing new life in an
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unexpected way.
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Lord Jesus, thank you that you are with
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us when we experience emptiness, that you get
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it, that you can grieve with us and
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mourn with us.
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And thank you that you also are a
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Redeemer who helps us find life in the
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midst of really difficult circumstances.
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Help us to let you redeem the emptiness
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of our work days.
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Help us to see that love, that Sabbath,
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that meaning that only you can give.
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Do your work in us as we do
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our work with you.
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Amen.
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Thanks for listening.
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18:54
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