The Search for Achievement

Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Tim Keller

Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Christianity, Spirituality

4.8 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Ecclesiastes, the author takes the position of a practical secularist. And he asks, “If this life is all there is, then is life meaningless?” The writer says if this life is all there is, if there’s no God and no meaning that you have to submit to, then you’re free to construct your own meaning. And so, he sets out to build meaning by living a cause-based life, and then by living a pleasure and beauty-based life. When he finds those both to be meaningless and burdensome, he decides to create a work-based life, to let work and career be an organizing principle in his life. In doing this, he finds three things: 1) that a life of work is not worth it, 2) why it’s not worth it, and 3) what is worth it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 23, 2003. Series: When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:17-26. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Gospel in Life podcast. What if the gospel didn't just shape your private life,
0:09.9	but transformed the way you show up in the world? One of the most visible places that would play out is in your work.
0:16.9	Join us as Tim Keller teaches on how the gospel reshapes the way we approach our jobs.
0:22.2	After you listen to today's teaching, we invite you to go online to gospelonlife.com and sign up for our email updates.
0:29.3	When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly journal and other valuable gospel-centered resources.
0:34.4	Subscribe today at gospelandlife.com.
0:44.0	Thank you. resources. Subscribe today at gospel and life.com. Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verses 70 to 26, and then right after that, as we have done a
0:50.4	couple of times, a passage on the same subject, just a little further down in the book,
0:56.1	Ecclesiastes 4 to 8.
1:03.0	So, it's a great way to start, isn't it?
1:06.3	So I hated life.
1:08.5	Because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is
1:13.4	meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun
1:18.1	because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise
1:23.6	man or a fool. Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my
1:29.7	effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my
1:37.1	toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill,
1:43.1	and then he may leave all he owns to someone
1:45.7	who has not worked for it. He must. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man
1:52.3	get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days,
1:56.6	his work is pain and grief, and even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
2:04.7	A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too,
	...

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