PRESENTER'S NOTES

We decided to clean the porch this past Sunday. That might seem like a rather mundane course of action, but take into consideration these three things:

1. We have a deep wraparound porch in the front and an even deeper full house length porch in the back.
2. We don't use pesticides around the house, so our porch is a haven for katydids, granddaddy longlegs, spiders, wasps, and mud daubers.
3. We've lived in this house 8 years this coming October, and we've only cleaned the porch once before.

Having all of this in mind, nevertheless, I thought to myself, "We should be done with this project in 3 hours or so."

...

Six hours later, it was getting dark, and one side of the back porch still was not complete.

Okay, well, so, it didn't take me too long to complete the task on Monday... except...

Do you want to know what happens when you finally get your porch clean after several years of neglect? Other parts of the house, which seemed fine enough before cleaning, now look filthy. So...

I moved on to continue to use the pressure washer on the whole back of the house, including the apartment, then I wrapped around to the garage area. Now, all I have left to do...

that I can reach!...

is the very tall west side of the house. All south and west facing gables and walls have accumulated algae over time, and this became even more noticeable with sparkling, clean porches.

So much for my speculation, "…three hours, or so". I felt a little bit like Gilligan, having expected to go on an easy three-hour tour and ending up stranded on a desert isle.

Have you ever noticed how building or producing can be exhausting? This became clearer to me than ever before when I built my son's treehouse last summer. I had a deadline and I could not escape it. And, as with my porch experience this past week, anything that is built on earth must be maintained if it is going to last any amount of time.
My treehouse building experience and my porch cleaning experience (still in progress) were very tiring. Is the kind of labor I put into it really worth the result? After all, my porch will get dirty again. The treehouse will begin to require it's own maintenance. Well, that all depends on why it is being done.

Psalm 127

1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

When you and I were called out of this world by our Father, we began to realize that all the ways of man are futile of and by themselves. The greatest structures in history fall. The greatest discoveries get out-discovered or their discoverer is almost forgotten, simply becoming a name in history.

Unless the LORD is involved; unless He is the builder, unless He is managing things, all our weary toil is in vain. The weariness is going to come, it is even expected with any big project, but will it be done with lasting purpose by God or done in a way that is not lasting by us?

Solomon concluded the matter of man's work rather decisively in Ecclesiastes,

Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

3 What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he toils under the sun?
4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.

...

12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Was it a vain task for me to clean my porches? Well, it is in some regard, because those porches will again get dirty. Eventually, those porches will even fall. But, on the other hand, if I maintain my porches and maintain my home to raise my children in God's name, to abide with my wife by God's example; if I give all credit to our Father in Heaven and Jesus at His right hand, then these works are not in vain, but are really works to build a house that cannot be seen by our human eyes.

1 Peter 2: 1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

1 Peter 2:16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Our labors, whether we are making the bed or working judiciously to clean the filth from our own lives, none of them are in vain if God is the source of purpose and the Overseer of these labors. We, the saints, have traded vanity for surety, so let our labors express that surety of faith, our hope in salvation unto eternal life.