More | Week 3 · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Apr 25, 2018 · 69 min watch · 3 min read

More | Week 3

Big Idea

When we try to make work work for what it was never meant to work for — identity, security, or ultimate meaning — it will never work; only working for the Lord brings true contentment.

Drawing from Ecclesiastes 2, Pastor Bill argues that every generation is stuck in a cosmic Groundhog Day, chasing meaning through work, wealth, and achievement the way a greyhound chases a metal rabbit. The real problem is that we replace God with work — using it to establish our identity, buy security, or fill time — and then demand from it what only an eternal relationship with God can provide. The remedy is not a better job or more success, but a reoriented heart: doing everything for God's glory, drawing on Christ's strength for contentment in any circumstance, and choosing to view every task as work done for the Lord rather than for people.

Key points

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1We are all caught in a Groundhog Day, trying to fulfill an eternal longing with temporal things — and the longing itself is not the problem, only how we try to satisfy it.
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2Work cannot deliver the meaning we demand of it: you cannot keep what you build, you cannot protect it, and the anxiety of maintaining it robs you of any real enjoyment.
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3We distort work in three ways — using it to 'be' somebody (identity), to 'buy' security (treasure), or treating it as a necessary evil to escape — all of which replace God with work.
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4God always changes our attitude before He changes our address; if our prayers are only about changing circumstances, we miss the transformation He actually intends.
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5Doing everything for God's glory is the foundation for reclaiming meaning in work.
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6Contentment in any situation — even suffering or slavery — comes through Christ's strength, not through improving circumstances.
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7Choosing to work as unto the Lord rather than for people — a command originally given to slaves — is the practical attitude that makes contentment and meaning possible regardless of conditions.

Application

Pastor Bill frames the takeaway around a simple but costly reorientation: stop trying to get too much out of work or get out of it too much, and instead choose to work as unto the Lord. Practically, that means asking whether your time, talent, and treasure are employed for God's glory first — including serving in the local church — rather than hoarded in the pursuit of identity, security, or escape. He acknowledges this shift does not necessarily change your circumstances; it changes you. The invitation is to trust that when you employ the gifts God gave you the way He intends, you will enjoy them far more than any rabbit you could ever catch. The first step is showing up — to serve, to give, to be present in community — and letting God provide the contentment that more of everything else never could.

Take it into your week

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7-day devotional

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There is something restless in all of us — a hunger that a promotion, a completed project, or a full bank account never quite satisfies. Pastor Bill named it plainly: we are all caught in a kind of cosmic Groundhog Day, chasing the same rabbit every generation. But here is the thing — the longing itself is not the problem. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has set eternity in the human heart. That ache you feel when achievement falls flat is not a malfunction; it is evidence of how you were made. You were wired for something that outlasts every deadline and every milestone. The tragedy is not that we long for meaning — the tragedy is that we keep trying to fill an eternal void with temporal things. Work, wealth, and achievement are real goods, but they are not big enough to carry the weight we put on them. Recognizing this is actually freeing. You are not failing because success has not satisfied you. You are simply running into the limits of what any created thing can do. That restlessness is an invitation — a signal pointing you back toward the One who put it there in the first place.

For reflection

Where in your life do you most feel that restless ache — and what have you been reaching for to quiet it?

Pray

Pray for honest awareness of the eternal longing God placed in you, and the courage to stop misdirecting it.

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Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Think of the best job or project you've ever poured yourself into — and what it felt like when it was done. This message digs into why that feeling never quite lasts, and what God might be pointing us toward through it.

Discussion questions

1
In Ecclesiastes 2, the writer catalogs everything he built, earned, and achieved — and calls it meaningless. What do you think he means by that? Is he saying work itself is the problem?
2
Pastor Bill described three ways people distort work — using it to establish identity, to buy security, or treating it as something to endure and escape. Looking at those three together, which one do you think is most common in our culture, and why?
3
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God has 'planted eternity in the human heart.' How does that idea help explain why chasing meaning through work always seems to leave people wanting more?
4
Paul writes in Philippians 4 that he has 'learned' contentment in every circumstance — including suffering. What does it mean that contentment is something learned rather than something that arrives when circumstances improve?
5
Colossians 3:23 was originally written to people who had no choice about their work at all. What does it look like, practically, for people today to work 'for the Lord rather than for people' — and how might that reorientation change the way a community like ours shows up together?
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Pastor Bill said that God changes our attitude before He changes our address — and that the invitation is not necessarily different circumstances but a changed heart. What would it look like for us, as a group, to actually pray that way together?

Pray together

Asking God to reorient our hearts toward His glory in ordinary work, and to provide the contentment that circumstances alone never can

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Week 3 · 6 messages

Where these passages are preached

Ecclesiastes 3 Ecclesiastes 2 1 Corinthians 10 Philippians 4

Explore related topics

Contentment in Christ Identity in God Idolatry of Success Work and Meaning Work as Worship

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