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00:01 This morning as uh we were driving to church, my my wife and daughter engaged
00:07 into a very important and very profound question. It was a very very important
00:13 question and we asked ourselves this morning, should we watch the latest installment of Pirates of the Caribbean
00:19 and Wonder Woman or watch neither or one or the other? Of course, the conversation went and
00:26 said, you know, another pirates movie. Who wants to see? Yeah. Who wants to watch Wonder Woman? Yeah. So, how long
00:33 how long way went very very raging? And so me being head of the household, I
00:40 stepped in with a very meaningful saying and I basically said what has been done
00:48 has been done before. There is nothing new under the sun.
00:53 It is you see one thing great about uh the book of Ecclesiastes is that it's
00:59 actually very real. It's very connected to your everyday life. And today we want
01:06 to go as part of our theme about connectivity this morning. We want to
01:12 talk about work. How many of you are familiar with this cartoon called Dilbert? Anyone any Dilbert fans here?
01:20 Not many Debert fans are okay. Debbert was a great cartoon uh strip that
01:26 started off I think 10 years ago, 15 years ago and basically was by a Scott
01:33 Adams who was essentially a computer analyst and uh he basically talked about
01:38 work. He's all about work and basically to him work was completely meaningless.
01:45 He had a boss whom he hated. He had a colleague who got paid for doing nothing
01:50 and every day he was stuck in the cubicle without any sense of career
01:55 advancement. And of course Dilbert became very popular. It became a cartoon
02:00 which resonated with working people. And as mentioned ecclesiastics you think is
02:06 very depressing but actually it it's very very relevant. So this morning I
02:12 want to start off with a very simple question to all of you. Tomorrow most of us are going to go back to work. And
02:18 there's only one question I want to ask you. And the question is this. Do you
02:24 enjoy your work? And if you do, why?
02:31 And if you don't, why? I think they're very important questions. And because in
02:36 today's chapter, this is what the teacher says in verse 22 of chapter 3. He says, "So I saw there's nothing
02:44 better for man than to enjoy his work."
02:50 And this morning as we sit here, there are some of you here who are corporate highf flyers, CEOs, MDs, your net worth
02:57 very very high. On the other hand, there are some which Cantonese
03:08 Cantonese meaning I just make a salary. There's nothing much to look forward to.
03:13 So today is a very relevant topic and we're going to ask yourself only one question today. How can your work be
03:20 meaningful? Especially in a world which has got so much politics and discrimination and if
03:28 you're financially not empowered you know work seems very difficult and again
03:34 ecclesiastics is really an interesting point to look at this. Let's come before God in prayer.
03:41 Lord, we ask this morning you be with us as we
03:46 go through the book of Ecclesiastes and we look at our work. For myself, I
03:53 ask for your mercy. I ask for your grace. For I am but a broken vessel, not
03:59 really worthy to expound, but ask in your grace you you shower me your
04:05 presence and your words of wisdom and that whatever I say may be pleasing to
04:11 you may be right to scripture that I remain teachable in what I say is needed
04:18 for correction and we say this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now we we have to jump a
04:26 little bit because we should be going to the first verse of chapter 3. But next
04:32 week I have to speak at alpha. So me and Peter did a swap. So it's a little bit disjointed but chapter 3 verses 1 to 8
04:40 are probably the most famous verses of Ecclesiastes. And he shifts from one and
04:47 two last two weeks from uh what Gideon and Pastor Mark gave us this very depressing experimentation where
04:54 everything is meaningless. Nothing is new. You go watch a movie also. You have seen it before. You done this you done
05:01 it before. Is from this very lackluster thing. And he shifts to another theme which is a
05:08 theme of time. And it's one of those few verses which resonates with everyone.
05:13 Even if you're not a Christian, you read it and you say, "Wow, this makes sense.
05:18 There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven."
05:24 I need you to take that at the back of us. Why? Because as he continues the chapter, he says this, "I saw something
05:32 else under the sun." And every time you see this phrase under the sun, chasing
05:38 after the wind, he's gone into this what we call rhetorical meaning of saying that this is how life
05:45 is like when you take God out of the picture. In simple English, that's what it means. In the place of judgment,
05:51 wickedness was there. In the place of justice, wickedness was there. And then
05:57 he reflects, I said to myself, God will bring into judgment both the righteous
06:02 and the wicked for there will be a time for activity, a time to judge every
06:08 deed. And chapter 3 is a little bit different is that God comes very much
06:14 center of chapter 3 and God will call the past to account. God will do this.
06:21 God tests men and he brings it all the way to chapter four. Now I want you to
06:27 put at the back of this in your mind. Meaning this work
06:33 has a lot to do with one of the most important capitals you and I have time
06:39 management. And when you and I spend eight hours a day at work, five days a week,
06:48 that investment will shape you whether you like it or not. Especially for men,
06:56 your identity is very much unconsciously defined by your work. You take away that
07:04 from a man, he feels insignificant. I had a friend who was doing very well,
07:11 elder of a church, been with a company for 30 years
07:18 in Singapore, had family middle class, upper middle.
07:24 One day, boss shifts to another new boss, American boss. Americans are very
07:30 brutal, except for Jeff and lovely wife. And when you ever hear these words, they
07:36 pull you in and they say, you know, we are going to do a reorg.
07:41 You know, whenever they pull you into a room and they say, we're going to do a reorg, you should start to sweat
07:48 because that's a very simple way of telling you we don't need you. So after
07:54 30 years of being in the company, he was part of the reorg out
08:02 and it affected him. Um, my wife knew we had came up to K. We had dinner. Here's
08:08 a godly man, elder of a church with two centers, congregation of 3,000.
08:15 And he looked me, he said, I went into depression. You see, you you work in
08:22 many ways shapes your confidence, your identity. You fail at your work, you
08:30 think you're not much of a person. You don't make much money. You come to church. You see all the other guys who
08:37 are CEOs. You feel very small. You're very big short. You walk to church. You
08:43 like to smell the airon. May not mean it, but you'll come across
08:48 as that. So that's the backdrop. And the first thing interestingly as he goes into work, what very interestingly the
08:56 teacher does is that he gives us the backdrop of the world you live in is a
09:02 dog eat dog world is an animal kingdom. It's a rat race.
09:09 He's going to play on this when he talks about man's faith and an animal. So take that back. Now the way we're going to do
09:17 this is we only have one question today. How to be happy at work? I don't give you a common view because I read a lot
09:23 of management books. You name it. Uh Steven Kovi, Dale Carnegie, Robert
09:28 Kiyosaki, Nightingale, Jim Collins, Simon Scenic,
09:34 read almost all. It's one of my pastimes. And if you read them, even the Christian literature, I won't give names
09:41 on that. They all have a very certain flow. And I'll show you what you get in most management books. However you
09:48 repackage it, whether they move your cheese or don't move your cheese, whether you got rich dad or a poor dad
09:55 or whether you want to win friends and influence people, you want to go from good to great. Those of you read will
10:00 know who I'm talking about. This is how they go without fail. This is intentional living. That's another title
10:07 for you guys. Number one, match your passion with your work. So for example,
10:13 you see, you know, I have this lousy job doing something very boring,
10:19 but I'm very good at raring fish. Hey, West Caster today.
10:25 Very good at raring fish. I love it. So you crowdfund it or you angel fun it or
10:33 you seed fun it, whatever it is. And you take the act of faith. You come out
10:39 there and you open an eanist
10:45 or whatever and you selfish and then people plan and teach you. You do a
10:52 distribution network and your net value goes triple times and suddenly you have
10:58 assets. You no longer you're a boss.
11:04 So you have matched your passion with your work. Now after that you find that
11:09 you're spending too much time at work and it's just absorbing to you. So they say they call this the orbit test or the
11:18 legacy test. They ask you to pause and write what you want to be known at the
11:25 end of your life. You say well I want to be known as a good father. I want to
11:30 known to have contributed to fishes around the knowledge of fishes. Let's just say I want to help poor fishermen
11:39 rediscover the value and cut off the middle man. And they teach you to work backwards. They call this the lingo is
11:46 called life work balance. And once you do that, you begin to match
11:52 skill set with passion. and you discover your personal job
11:59 calling. And as Oprah Winfrey calls it, there's nothing more powerful
12:06 than discovering this. A very famous man nightingale who populated what called
12:11 the law of attraction says this. The moment you have a purpose and you live
12:17 that purpose out, your life becomes intentional. Now, I'm not saying this is
12:22 all wrong, but I'm going to do very something very cruel. I'm going to take this and run it through echlesis because
12:29 it's such a depressing book. So, let's road test this again. I qualify myself.
12:34 I think there's some level of truth in this. But how far is this really,
12:40 you know, biblical? Let's go through it. And this is point one. And let's use
12:46 some very famous people. Steve Job says people with passion can change the world
12:52 for the better and Job did that you know I mean 60% you guys have a Steve Job's
12:57 invention in your hands so he's right so but let me just read you what we just
13:04 read and he just said the first part 3:16 we read about wickedness and he
13:10 does a refrain in chapter 4 he say this again I looked and saw all the
13:16 oppression that was taking place under the sun. Again, that same term. I saw
13:21 the tears of the oppressed and they have no comforter. Power was not on the side
13:28 of the oppressors. They have no comforter. That's a refrain. And I declare that the dead who have already
13:35 died are happier than the living. Wow, that's depressing. Who are not alive. Better than both is the one who has
13:42 never been born. who have not seen the evil that is done under the sun. And and
13:47 both these chapters are sandwiched in between chapter 3 verse 22. Meaning you
13:54 have this first statement which is about oppression in chapter 3. Another
13:60 statement which basically replicates it at chapter 4 which is about depression.
14:05 And in the middle there he talks about work. So, here's the first reality check
14:11 on what we call marketplace ministry. Number one, hello.
14:16 To be able to work at what you're passionate is a privilege.
14:23 You think the guy out there who takes your rubbish bin has passion?
14:31 You think the guy who stands in front of your condo gets kicked around has passion?
14:38 You think the maid who cleans your office and gets bullied has passion.
14:44 You think the many slaves at a time of Christ at Paul had passion.
14:52 Passion is elitism. And during those days, if your dad was a
15:00 farmer, you are a farmer. No need to talk what passion. You just follow.
15:06 Your dad was a fisherman, you are a fisherman. Your dad was a carpenter,
15:14 you are carpenter. There you know where we're going with this, right? For the greatest man that
15:22 walked on this earth was a son of a carpenter. So that's the first thing. Let's run this through, okay, a little
15:29 bit. Number two, your passion can change. That is really the point of
15:34 ecclesiastes. We are fickle. He says this in early chapter. I undertook great project. Wow. Architect man, I don't
15:41 feel so alone. I built houses for planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks, planted all kinds of fruit trees.
15:49 I made reservoirs. This guy was a developer, man. He was into real estate.
15:55 He probably listed his company and went blue chip. There after he listed his company he
16:00 said yet when I survived all my hands had done and what I thought to achieve everything was meaningless chasing after
16:07 win nothing was gained under the sun even though he had 50 million in the bank
16:14 you see passion changes is insatable so the second thing that you need to
16:20 pick up and the third one has got to do with the larger context of ecclesiastes like say I'm actually thanking
16:26 everything within this and really God can call you to a vocation you're
16:32 completely not passionate about. And Peter will take us through these 14 statements in the first part of chapter
16:39 3. So famous 14 positives and 14 negatives. And he will say there is a
16:46 time for everything. And he has made everything beautiful in his time. God
16:52 ordains the time. And he can tell you there is a time to build and there's a
16:59 time to tear down. And there are days, seasons God will put
17:06 you in a job you completely have no passion for because he wants you
17:14 there. That happens with church.
17:20 As the church grows, some very reluctant people have to take up more leadership roles. Don't know
17:27 who. Next week, you all better decide properly when you vote.
17:32 And people who say, you know, I'm not spiritual enough. We have to step up to
17:37 the plate if we love the church. And I pray I say, "God, I'm not worthy."
17:43 God say, "Go make yourself worthy. God, you know I'm a sinner, so you don't sin." Ah, I don't want I want to sin.
17:51 You You follow me? You see, it is quite selfish to say you want to do everything just because you're passionate about.
17:57 Let me give you a classic biblical example of a man who did that. His name was Joseph.
18:04 And Joseph will pick up what Paul says in Philippians 4 that the King James is,
18:11 I know what it's like to be a base and I know what it's like to abound. We'll
18:17 come to that later in that in that chapter. And he was in the darkest of
18:22 prisons, framed for rape. And what did he do? He didn't sit there and said,
18:28 "Life sucks." He managed the prison. He brought management structure to the
18:34 prison. He reorganized. He reorged the prison.
18:40 And the jailer saw a man with passion. And that same passion was when he became
18:47 king. And here's the sign of godliness. Whether you're in prison in a job you
18:54 can't stand in a cubicle with low pay or you're CEO of a company with a driver
19:01 and a S-class Mercedes with multiple streams of income and completely liquid.
19:09 You are either a base or you're bound. God is at the center. Why? In the end,
19:15 God does not ask about your ability or your talents or your passion, about your
19:20 hour ability, our hour availability. Imagine if everyone here who could play guitar came to church and says, "You
19:26 know what? My gift is to play guitar. I will serve you playing guitar. We have 50 guitar players out there." And we
19:31 say, "Thank you very much. Anyone you play piano?" Can can no but my passion playing guitar.
19:36 We don't need 50 guitar players. Thank you very much. We need usherers. We need
19:41 people to do car park management. We need accountants. So here's the thing. Passion is part of
19:49 it but really not key. Here's the second one which I really want to spend a bit of time on. You see
19:56 and it's about reflect on what legacy you want to leave behind. And this is something the teacher talks about quite
20:03 heavily in chapter one and two which both Yian and Mark have brought up. And
20:08 basically like what Yian said, you know, you leave a legacy, you don't know whether your son or your grandson is
20:14 going to basically mess it up. But here's how you find out there. Just Google it. And everyone teaches you
20:20 this. Another very rich client of mine, uh, extremely
20:27 well, he's got so many zeros at the back of it. I I don't even know, you know. And he sat me down. He's a church goer.
20:33 He say I have I have before I kick the bucket I have to do these few projects
20:38 explain to me how this massive projects will benefit the state how he got the
20:44 state involved how he's buying a lot of land bank and he will do this then god will take him
20:50 home and that's his legacy so I uh I had another client who here
20:55 and not very good in English and I explained to him about all of this thing canate speaking guy I tried to explain
21:01 to him he said Oh, I see this in Cantonese.
21:08 Legacy. Oh, legacy.
21:14 Then he told me something I never forgot. Legacy.
21:26 If you don't understand that, it's simple. Is your legacy is your business.
21:32 My legacy is my business. You want to go to grave and doing all these big major
21:39 projects. You go and do you think everyone's going to remember you is because you want them to remember
21:47 you. I want to go and drink and he was a big drinker at with him. He will pull out a Johnny Walker Black Label Blue
21:55 Labor Caralan whiskey.
22:02 You know, in our construction life, we have to fight this over. So, he's trying to tell you, it's your business. Who are
22:08 you to tell me what's legacy? If I want to go to my grave with strip dancers,
22:14 strippers on top of cars shaking their booty to the graveyard, who are you to tell me I'm wrong?
22:21 And this is happened in Taiwan. It became quite big news. And of course, you say, "Oh, that's so
22:27 improper. How shameful at the graveyard." It gets he gets strippers shaking their booty and before you go in
22:34 there
22:39 lego you see
22:45 in the end legacy is illogical if there's no God because when people
22:52 say they want to do this however noble it is and they say people will remember them come on guys crudely speaking
22:59 That's BS. You're only doing it for yourself. You want people to remember you, they're
23:05 not going to remember you very long. And I think Tim Keller put it very widely in a very interesting book he
23:12 wrote called u uh connecting your work to the word of God.
23:17 I want to bring it to you later. Basically what Kellis said that you see
23:23 legacy for Christian isn't about leaving something behind. Legacy for a Christian
23:32 is preparing to meet God. You follow me where we going? Because
23:39 this should be one thing in all of tombstones. Well done good and faithful servant.
23:46 Legacy only has value if you're certain
23:51 there's a God that you're going to go to and he's going to review your work. Essentially, that's what it says at the
23:58 end of Ecclesiastes. But here the the teacher punches it in. He says, "As for
24:04 men, God tests them so they may see they're like the animals." And he's going under the sun. Basically saying
24:11 that if you have if there's no God, you're like an animal. Man's faith is like that of the animals. The same fate
24:17 awaits them both. This is really brutal. This is the first statement of an atheist. You know, as one dies, so does
24:24 the other. All have the same breath. A man has no advantage over the animal.
24:29 Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place or come from dust or the dust
24:34 will return. And here's a cruncher. This is for Richard Dawkins. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upwards and the
24:42 spirit of the animal goes down into the grave? You see,
24:49 does your dog think about his legacy? No. The dog dies, the dog dies.
24:58 Does the dog think of what is the meaning of life and the purpose of my work? No.
25:06 Why do men think about this even though you're not a Christian? Because you're hardwired
25:11 for eternity. If you're not a Christian with us or you're struggling with it and you ask
25:18 yourself these questions, what is the purpose of life? What is my legacy?
25:24 How can I make my life meaningful? It means innately in you there is a
25:30 hardwiring for relationship with God. And I encourage you to talk to us because
25:36 that's God talking out to you. And Kellus says this in every good endeavor.
25:42 He says every one will be forgotten. That's Ecclesiastes. Nothing we do will make any difference.
25:50 All good endeavors will come to not unless there is a God. If the God of the
25:57 Bible exists and there's a true reality beneath and behind this one, this life
26:02 is not the only one. Then every good endeavor, even the simplest one, pursuit
26:08 in respond to God's calling can matter forever. And I want to take this word about God's calling. And here the last
26:15 one you hear very often, affirm your personal job calling. And many
26:20 management books teach you this. They actually have a worksheet at the back. uh Steven Kovi has one a lot of them
26:27 teach you to find these PS focus on that and drive yourself to that now it has
26:34 value to a certain limit but let's unpack this a little bit see Oprah Winfrey says there's no greater gift you
26:41 can give to receive than to honor your calling is why you were born and how you
26:48 become most truly alive many people believe this and how do they
26:53 do it what is a system of doing it. They do this and most management books will
26:59 pack this in one way or another. They'll map out what your skill set is. They map
27:05 out your impact on society and they make out that you feel something good about it. And in that middle is what you were
27:14 born to do. They call this your sweet spot. Those of you who read management
27:19 books will recognize this. This is you. This is what you are born for. Whether
27:28 you're a Christian or a Muslim or a Buddhist or an atheist, this is your
27:33 calling in life. Now, let's unpack this. All right. Here's a man who fitted that
27:41 to the tea. Was he passionate and good at doing something? You bet. Did he feel
27:48 appreciated? You bet. Did he make your people's life better? Please give me all your iPhones, iPads.
27:56 Don't use it for one week. You can't survive without it, man. Guys,
28:01 but yet this is what most magazines will say about him.
28:06 And you ever read his life, his drive with his passion, he fitted
28:12 everything. He was so enamored with it. his relationship with his biological
28:18 dad, his daughter and everything else. You see, passion, legacy,
28:24 these things can be very subtle idols because the million-doll question is, is
28:31 it your purpose or God's purpose? These are two purposes I read in two Christian
28:37 books and I read it three, four times because I don't want to judge a guy wrongly and I'm not going to mention
28:43 names, but some of you will know them. The first my purpose is to train and raise leaders all over the world. This
28:49 guy has sold millions of Christian management books teaches you intentional
28:55 leading. He runs workshops. There are people here who are trained by them. Another one very famous started this
29:01 statement that says from success to significance. Some of you may have heard
29:06 this term and uh he was a very famous uh TV cable network made millions of
29:13 dollars. His client base involves Rick Warren Settleback
29:19 Bill Hable from Willow Creek and he said my purpose is to build up mega churches
29:25 to impact society. Now what's the common thing between these two? It could boil
29:30 down. I could say, you know, my role is to teach all you guys and to bring God's
29:35 word to all of you. I could say my role is to uplift the poor community and
29:43 improve their lifehood. My role is to go into education. You know, it's a common factor in all of this. There's one very
29:51 subtle idol. It's called respect. Because when you walk in the room and
29:57 tell people that's what they do, this man, good man, very good, very
30:04 honorable, you want to really know whether it's God's calling. I tell you what, you do this what he's doing.
30:11 And then I say maybe God's calling you because when the son of man came,
30:18 he didn't do something he wanted to do. In fact, he told his father, "If you can remove this cup from me," and when the
30:25 King of Kings came, he was beaten, humiliated, and tortured. How many of
30:30 you make it your calling to be tortured? Please raise your hands. Huh? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. Many hands. Very good. You see where I'm going with
30:37 this? And as Paul says this, who being the very nature God consider equality of God
30:46 nothing to be with and put on the nature of a servant. That's calling.
30:52 Either that the only person calling is your ego. No matter how noble you think
30:58 it is, there is self-interest in it. Let me tell you the bottom line of
31:03 Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is about wise decision making because does the Bible
31:10 teach that there's a specific vocation calling for everyone? I want to humbly
31:15 tell you no. Go and tell the Nepali God this is God's
31:23 calling for you to stand in front of a condo and take care of a residents. My
31:29 calling is to drive an S-class Mercedes, go around the world, and plant churches.
31:37 Come on, man. That's utter rubbish.
31:42 Life is unfair. And accity tells you you make the most
31:49 of it within God's moral will and God's sovereign will because God is sovereign
31:55 over the times of your life. Now we go through the real bit and this
32:04 was something very educational for me because like all of us we all have dreams. I mean I consider myself quite
32:10 fortunate. I run a small company six staff been me for many years. I put a
32:16 little bit in the bank. I'm consider myself very privileged. I I enjoy my work and we all have dreams. Correct.
32:25 So actually I think was quite interesting and here's the first thing which really struck me. First point
32:31 understand what it means to work with tranquility. Now where do we get that? We get this at
32:38 the end of chapter 4 in a verse which is not very often quoted but it's really interesting and he says this better one
32:46 handful with tranquility verse six than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the
32:53 wind. The fact that two handfuls with tall is chasing after the wind mean that's not biblical. What's biblical?
33:00 One handful with tranquility. Now what does that mean? The word already gives you a clue. But let's take it one step
33:07 back first. You see, he said earlier against a backdrop of corruption and and
33:14 office politics that will maneuver you out and racial discrimination and bad
33:19 pay packages and your pay is being cut and all the things that make you bitter and he said there's nothing better for a
33:27 person than to enjoy their work because that is their lord. Now is he talking under the sun that mean I got so fed up
33:33 work? Well, the the rest the earlier verses don't say that because chapter two yeen brought us through he says that
33:40 a person can do better than to eat and drink find satisfaction in their own thought as work and hear this this too
33:47 is from the hand of God wants you to enjoy your work and other
33:53 things your life and it repeats that in the first part chapter three there's nothing better for people to be happy
34:00 and to good while they live and you may sit there and say flow. I'm barely making in my company or my
34:07 business, my work. I can't pay off my installments. You ask me to be happy. I
34:13 cannot stab by my boss. I hate my colleagues. I can't stand my
34:19 so and so. Why is there to be happy, brother? Talk only.
34:25 So, we're going to break this down because scriptur is very clear. You have to be happy in your life, brothers and
34:32 sisters. God is asking each one of us to be happy is a commandment.
34:38 How we're going to break that down. Number one, some people say, well, be
34:44 ambitious. Be like Madona. Really go for the top.
34:49 Push yourself. And he says this, I saw that all and all achievements spring for
34:55 one person envy another. Now, here's the way to look at this verse. You know why
35:00 some of us are not happy? Because we always comparing. I can tell myself m
35:07 I only got six star. You see that guy there second row now him one of top 10 firms in Malaysia.
35:15 W I want to whack him. Win so many awards. Why you so successful?
35:23 Today some successful got time to do mission statement. You know Superman w jealous.
35:31 You follow where we going. You see, there will always be somebody above you and the devil will whisper to you,
35:40 sorry to capitalism, meaning you're useless. You're mediocre.
35:45 But that comes from a bad place because we're comparing. So you want to be happy. Number one, stop comparing. You
35:52 only compare with yourself. That's the first one. Here's the number second one where you're completely indifferent to
35:58 work. And he says this, "Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves." Proverbs has something similar. A little
36:05 sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of hands of rest. See this? And poverty will come on you. I love this.
36:12 Like a thief and scarcity like a army will pounce on you. Say the other
36:18 opposite. My work stupid work. My boss even more stupid.
36:24 Work law and a man get law. Yeah, boss not around. Play game.
36:31 Boss not around. Email chat. Boss coming. Oh, pretend to work. Switch screen. Ah, we are quite good at doing
36:39 that, right? I see a lot of guilty faces. You're good at doing that because now they can swap your screen.
36:47 Every time you do that, you're folding your hands and God looks at you
36:52 and then you begin to wonder why you can't put in money to put your kids through education. And you begin to
36:59 wonder why you don't have enough money for a rainy day when an operation hits you. And then you get jealous. You say
37:08 life is unfair. You blame everybody. But it begins because you're not a good
37:14 steward. Here's the other extreme. That's why you're not happy. Today you're going to be quite brutal. All of
37:20 us will fall into this. You're not happy not because of your environment, because of us. The first extreme is when you're
37:28 very brutally competitive. And the second is when you're completely lazy.
37:34 You're on screen saver mode all the time. You get a salary, but it has no meaning.
37:41 I understand this and sometimes you can you can understand that right where it comes from. You you
37:47 you came into the working world with passion and you want to do a job well and you got sideline for a promotion and
37:54 you've been stuck at the same place for the last 10 years and not getting anywhere. So work law
38:01 but you're working for God you know and when you do that it becomes self-fulfilling.
38:07 You're not going to get anywhere because your mind has just told you you won't get anywhere. So ambition is important.
38:14 Now here's something we're going to go through too. So what's the solution? He says this better one handful with
38:20 tranquility, two handfuls with tall and chasing after the wind. And that's a balance here. Now what does it mean? Now
38:27 if I cup my hands together, I can get a lot of stuff. It's an agricultural metaphor. If I put one hand in much less
38:37 and when you put two hands together he says that yes you're going to become
38:42 very very rich but it is going to be at the expense of your family your church your health and
38:50 everything else is chasing after the wind
38:55 but when you can pull yourself away and says you know what I've done my numbers
39:02 I' I've done the hard numbers. I can save on this. If I lead a simpler life, I can put my kids through a decent
39:09 university. I can save for my mom because she's got diialysis. And you know what? I can even give to
39:15 ministry. So long, I don't compare myself to others. And how long I work hard and you
39:21 know what, God? This is enough. You see how the Bible is very real? That's
39:26 tranquility. I'm going to break down that word because tranquility has many words going around it. Quietness,
39:33 flexibility, contentment. I'm going to break that down a bit. The first thing is this. Working with tranquility
39:40 redefineses our ambition. Why? My ambition now is one handful not two. You
39:47 see the the ESV has a and the NK the King James has a another word for
39:53 tranquility is quietness. I'm going to break down what it means you did. And we find this in the New
40:01 Testament in first Thessalonian Paul says, "Make it your ambition." Here it
40:06 is. To lead a quiet life. Hello. Don't capo at church politics, not church.
40:13 Church politics alone. Office politics. Okay? You should mind your own business.
40:19 Work with your hands just as we told you. And your daily life may ruin the
40:25 respect of outsiders. You will not be dependent on anybody. You see how this goes into actually this number one don't
40:32 the the idea of not being laz here. Don't be dependent. Number two don't be a capoi. Don't get involved because
40:38 these things actually are you're trying to do this to stab other people to get up your career. Canton
40:45 sorry really I must get this out of my mind this Cantonese thing. But don't do all of that. Just work. Focus on your
40:52 work and do it quietly and you become a beacon. Secondly, working with
40:57 tranquility crucifies selfish ambitions. Kellis says this, when we say Christians
41:03 work from a gospel worldview, it does not mean they are constantly speaking a
41:08 Christian teaching in their work. Instead, think of the gospel as a set of glasses through which you look at
41:14 everything else in the world. Christians in business will see profit as only one or several bottom lines. They will work
41:21 passionately for any kind of enterprise that serves the common good. Here's what
41:26 I I want to really pull home today. Instead of saying, "God, help me have
41:31 what I want." This morning, God is saying, "God, help me want what I have."
41:39 Is really about contentment. And tranquility with contentment leads you to flexibility. We read this just
41:46 now. You become flexibly flexible whether it's good times or bad times, you're able to take it and tranquility
41:54 returns us to Eden. When God put us in Adam into Eden, he worked creatively and
42:02 he loved his work. And when people see that in you, even though office politics
42:07 are bad and you really don't like your boss, but you know God is your real CEO
42:14 and things are really hard and you don't get your promotion or we swing the other
42:19 side. You're really making massive amount of monies. You decide that's not important. You downgrade your car.
42:25 You say, you know what, you could spend more money and become even higher up. You say that's not so important because
42:31 I got to do stuff for the church. And they see that peace. They see tranquility.
42:37 They see a quiet life. They see your ambition is not just to climb up. They
42:43 see Christ. Work with tranquility. Secondly, remember there are seasons
42:50 still working life. because we're in the larger picture of Ecclesiastes chapter 3. And he says this, I saw there's
42:57 nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work because they're their Lord. Why? For who can bring them to see
43:05 what will happen after them. You don't know tomorrow.
43:10 I saw this. I love to watch Ted Talks and this guy is not a Christian, but it's quite interesting.
43:15 uh he was successful and one day he had an accident that cost him his legs and
43:21 his hands and uh he became very involved in pative
43:27 care and we talking about legacy now we always say at the end of our lives people look back and see this what I've
43:34 achieved he gave a different perspective he said when he was at death bed
43:40 he was sitting in hospice and he looked out he saw snow
43:46 and the nurse came in, took a snowball, smuggled it in, and he was contemplating
43:54 the end of his life. He held that snowball and he watched that snowball just drip
44:01 and he said he never felt more alive in his whole life. You see, and he gave
44:08 a very interesting statement. You see people at the end of their life
44:13 remember what it is to breathe life. And I'm now trying to understand that
44:19 you see you and I go to work. Uh either we're very so sucked in by the negativity around us. You know, we can't
44:26 see good things. Either that we are so driven to build our empires, we don't
44:32 pause. And I was very guilty of that. And I sat down one day and I said, you know what,
44:38 I don't appreciate my stuff. And I begin to be very appreciative of the jobs I
44:44 had. My office, not a great-looking office. I was happy. You go back and you try
44:51 that. You're meant to be happy. You know why you're not happy? You're not living the moment.
44:58 And so one day, you know, at the beginning of this year, I said, you know what? Should I pay bonus? Shouldn't I pay bonus? Well, I know money got money.
45:05 And I said, "Well, they deserve the bonus because it's a bad year." So, I sat my guys down. I haven't done this in
45:12 my whole life. It's a bad year, but I'm going to give bonus. And I had an opportunity to share God.
45:20 And I told them, "Can I pray for you?" And I thought they say, "You boss pray." Okay. They say, "Pray."
45:27 And I prayed. And I never prayed over them. And I tell
45:33 you after I prayed, I looked at them and they all staunchly not Christian. I
45:38 never felt more alive. And I want you to go back and look at your job and find
45:44 that snowball and live. Why? Because tomorrow you
45:50 never know what happens. You see, timing is everything in
45:55 business. At the right time, you can make tons of money or you can lose everything. And you're right with God.
46:03 Timing is everything. There's a time for everything, a season for every activity.
46:09 What do workers gain from their toll? I've seen the burden God has laid upon the human race. He has made everything
46:16 beautiful in his time. If you're going through a hard time,
46:21 difficult time, a time where you're not building but being destroyed,
46:27 remember this in this season. Pause and find some beauty in that God is training
46:34 you. Remember Joseph as he played years and years in prison.
46:41 He didn't go into a ball of negativity, but he became a very good steward. And
46:47 as he languished in prison, God trained him to be a king.
46:53 So if you are in a bad place at your work right now, God put you there to train you and he
47:02 has great plans for you. What are his great plans? We're going to end about this about godly ambition. Give me five
47:09 minutes and we will wrap this up. In many many years ago, there was a
47:15 younger architect who wanted to become very famous. He
47:21 became so famous he was featured in a magazine foy
47:31 younger man not much wrinkles project also mentioned man don't pray prayer
47:37 ah you are nobody I'm somebody you know I will tell you now this is 204 I kept
47:44 it to show it to you I had just not many years came to FBC in
47:50 panta Pai I remember after this came out I went to Bway better buy a few copies. I bought
47:57 many copies. I remember was Sunday I walked to Pai who you see how many people remember this. I walked in
48:05 first brother say hey you in papers yesterday. Yeah, proud uh somebody. Hey, hi Ann. How come
48:13 the H interview you Moella force humility? I'm very good at that.
48:19 I will tell you now, uh it's completely meaningless. Completely.
48:27 Everything that was featured in there has absolutely no meaning. I'll tell you, it came from a very selfish place.
48:36 God willing, I'm older, a bit wiser now, and I don't chase these things. You see, I want to end with this. You see,
48:42 there's a reason why they say everything is meaningless. You see, the NIV doesn't really give it a right term. The ESV and
48:51 the King James is better. It says vanity of vanity is two thing. One is in vain,
48:58 but interwoven in it is the self-centeredness of it. And that's where we all are. You see, ultimately
49:04 being a Christian is about this. Either God gets all the glory or I get it. And
49:10 I can hijack God into it and say, "I'm doing it for God." Actually, hello. I'm
49:15 doing it for myself because he's not king in my life.
49:21 That's really what the gospel is. And you can sit here in church and you can
49:26 say, "I'm doing it for God." You're actually doing it for yourself. and you can fool yourself for years.
49:34 Now ecclesiastes is a rhetorical device. If there is vanity or vanities
49:41 and the double meaning means so meaningless the other extreme is there
49:48 is king of kings, holy of holies, lord of lords.
49:53 If doing all this without God is completely meaningless.
49:59 The moment you put God into it, it is completely meaningful. And this is why
50:07 you have to dream big for the King of Kings. And I want to leave you with this. John Sto says this, "Ambitions for
50:16 God, if they are to be worthy, can never be modest."
50:23 Whether you are a Nepali God or you are someone with 50 million a bank. The
50:29 question today is do you dream big for God? There is something inherently
50:35 inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God. I think he's right.
50:41 How can we ever be content that he should acquire just a little more honor
50:47 in this world? Christians should be eager to develop their gifts. widen the
50:53 opportunities, extend their influence and be given promotion and work. Not now to boost
51:00 their own ego, to build their own empire, but rather through everything
51:06 they do to bring glory for God. This morning, I want to close with this. Wherever you are in your job, God's
51:13 calling for you, dream big for him. Dream big. We have this thing that
51:19 ambition is wrong. is wrong if it's centered on self. When it's centered on God, wow, you do massive things. And
51:26 I'll give you one example. This is my project manager, my KK project. Uh I'm
51:32 going to give you an everyday example of an everyday person. They are not guys that going to be writing books. Uh he
51:39 developed this project in Sapang, which was award-winning. Uh he came over to us to teach us soft skills on corporate
51:45 management, implement protocols and SOPs. corporate man are you really all the
51:52 financial thing alignment meetings very boring in his spare time he's a two bit ham
51:59 actor his video has probably half a million hits uh he's the father of this group
52:05 called the Ming thing you can get him on YouTube but more important than that in his
52:12 other spare time he goes to Bangladesh yen knows him
52:17 and he works among people who a lot of us won't in fact he does ministry here
52:23 that puts him in jail and every time I talk to him where are you hawking Allah in Bangladesh where
52:30 are you I'm in Kalantan where are you in Sabah got time God gives me the time
52:35 and he is a good father he is a good husband
52:41 that's being ambitious for God and I want to really leave you with this
52:47 I mean look at Jeff and his wife, 10 makers, came here, build a school. We know your
52:55 agenda. He's here to build a kingdom. I want you to live with this. Tomorrow,
53:02 when you go to work, dream big.
53:07 Enjoy your work. You never know what tomorrow happens.
53:13 And when you do that, God will truly make you feel more alive than you ever
53:21 did because we worship a servant king. And
53:27 as he went out, he spent times in the slums on a daily basis.
53:34 And I want you to understand today, work with tranquility. Remember their seasons your working
53:40 life. pursue godly ambition. For the son of man did not come to be
53:47 served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So wherever you are at
53:55 work, I pray that you really feel alive at work tomorrow. Let us close in
54:01 prayer. Lord Jesus, we ask each one of us to
54:06 just pause and examine our our work. And tomorrow as we start off at work again,
54:14 give us that inner peace to know you're with us. For some of us here who struggle with
54:20 work, let us reflect today how we can quietly do our work. We're going through hard
54:27 seasons. remind us we are being trained and teach us to dream big for you. For
54:35 those who are in a very good place at work, got money in the bank, got respect,
54:41 ask ourselves, are we doing this for our own glory or for you.
54:46 Teach us, oh Lord, to take this good seasons to bless others, to make you known, oh Lord, by the
54:53 integrity of our work and the good stewardship. And as for you who are doing well in
54:59 your business, God is saying come to the church and dream big for church. Dream
55:07 big for us. And we say this in Jesus name. Amen.
