An Aside

At the following link, you may access a playlist to my series of Sunday School lessons on the book of Ecclesiastes.  I also have two playlists with me singing; one singing original songs, the other singing covers.  Listen at your own risk.

CLICK HERE TO BE TRANSPORTED TO THE MIXCLOUD!

Keeping the Faith

“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.  For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” -1 Corinthians 3:10-15

All actions are indeed destined for the ash-heap of the eschaton, but some will be sorted out as precious as the ashes are sifted.  Note that our work now, as it is physically carried out, does not necessarily show its worth.  Rather, it is by fire that the work will be tested.  Thus the nature of faith being "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

This futility is the earthbound effect of the curse.

“And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."” -Genesis 3:17-19

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.  What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” –Ecclesiastes 1:2-3

"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." -Romans 8:20-25

It is God's will that those who are in Christ take up their crosses daily and follow Him as they die to themselves.  We suffer futility, according to what we see, knowing in our spirits that Christ has overcome the curse and that our hope is firmly founded upon Him alone.  The motivation of the Christian in obeying God is not seeing results now at the might of our own hands, but is by faith in what they do not see.  We know that God will be honored by our spiritual worship as we suffer death to self, taking up our crosses daily.  The reason all of life is reformed is precisely because we are to live in the faith that, in Christ, we stand in the Age to Come when we shall be bodily redeemed and see God face to face.

In all areas of life, we, the people of God, are to work hard and strive for obedience to God’s law out of thankful hearts to the praise of His glory.  Naught but His will can ever be done, though this fact is often hidden from our sight.  Hence, we are to pray according to that faith, in which Christ instructs His people, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Since His will is always done in history, what is the purpose of the third petition if not to stir up the faith of the people of God?  That faith, being wholly fixed upon Christ, must necessarily be fixed upon the Age to Come, wherein He now sits enthroned at the right hand of the Father.  Despite the fact that all is vanity, all is not vanity to the One who overcame the curse.  Despite the fact that all people die, all people do not truly die, because some are united to Him who conquered death.  We are sealed with an inheritance until we acquire possession of it.  Until that fullness of time, we are to know the hope to which we have been called in Christ according to His resurrection from the futility of death and His glorification.  (Ephesians 1:13-23)

We are not returning to the shadows of the garden, in which the law was first set forth and in which there were both night and day, sun and moon.  We are journeying, as pilgrims through a foreign land, to a place far surpassing that shadowy valley-land through which we walk.  We are journeying to a land where there will no longer be anything accursed, there will be neither sun nor moon and night will be no more as we bask in the glorious light of the Father and the lamp of the Lamb.  (Revelation 22:1-5)

Our work in this life may stand for a time or it may quickly pass away.  It would be nice if the quality of that work would be recognized even by the world and be made to stand for a longer, rather than a shorter time in this age, but this is ultimately a matter of indifference to the people of God.  We do not fear futility, but rejoice as we endure it.  We do not fear death, but rejoice as we endure it.  We wait patiently and die happily knowing that it is only a matter of time until the consummation, when we shall stand, not in our own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Jesus Christ our faithful Lord and King, the eternal Son of God.

We are a people of faith whose hope sits at the right hand of the Father and shall return to judge all the earth.  We know that “…if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” –Romans 8:25