Meaningful Work Series

Kung Fu Panda is a movie about a panda named Po who desperately wants to learn kung fu. His father, though, wants him to take over the family business someday. In one scene, Po is late coming down the stairs from his room, where he was working on his kung fu moves, to work in his father’s restaurant. Take a look (Show King Fu Panda Noodle Chat scene).

"Sorry, Dad," Po says as he descends the stairs from his room to the kitchen of his father's restaurant.

"Sorry doesn't make the noodles," his father answers. "What were you doing up there? All that noise?"

"Oh, nothing," Po answers. "Just had a crazy dream."

His father suddenly looks interested. "What were you dreaming about?" he asks.

"What was I—? Uhhhh." Po struggles to find an answer because he was dreaming about kung fu. He knows his father would disapprove of this, so he lies: "I was dreaming about—uh—noodles."

"Noodles?" his father asks, now very interested. "You were really dreaming about noodles?"

"Yeah," Po says, attempting to smile. "What else would I be dreaming about?" He is serving soup to a customer and accidentally drops a Chinese throwing star into the bowl. "Oh, careful!" he says to the customer. "That soup is … sharp!"

Po's father doesn't notice. "Oh, happy day!" he cries. "My son, finally having the Noodle Dream! You don't know how long I have been waiting for this moment!" He places an official restaurant cap on Po's head.

"This is a sign, Po!" his father exclaims.

Po is confused. "Uh—a sign of what?"

"You are almost ready to be entrusted with the secret ingredient to my Secret Ingredient Soup! And then you will fulfill your destiny and take over the restaurant—just as I took it over from my father, who took it over from his father, who won it from a friend in a game of mahjong."

"Dad, Dad, Dad," Po says, trying to stem his father's enthusiasm. "It was just a dream."

"No, it was the dream. We are noodle folk, Po. Broth runs through our veins!"

"But, Dad," Po asks, "didn't you ever want to do something else? Something besides noodles?"

"Actually," his father admits, "when I was young and crazy, I thought about running away and learning how to make tofu."

"So why didn't you?" Po asks.

"Because it was a stupid dream," his father replies. "Can you imagine me making tofu? Ha! No, we all have our place in this world. Mine is here, and yours is—."

"I know," Po interrupts. "Mine is here."

"No," his father answers, "it's at tables 2, 5, 7, and 12. Service with a smile!" (Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks Animation, 2008, directed by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, 00:02:29 - 00:05:18, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlOpjb8rJN0; www.PreachingToday.com).

Poor Po! He wants to do something meaningful with his life, and he is stuck in a meaningless job. A lot of people feel that way about their work, maybe even some of you.

So what do you do when your job seems pointless? What do you do to find meaning and joy in your work? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Ecclesiastes 2, Ecclesiastes 2, where Solomon in his search for meaning talks about work.

Ecclesiastes 2:18-19 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity (ESV).

One of the greatest kings in Israel, the great King Solomon hates his work, because somebody else is going to take over all the benefits of his hard work. He’ll die someday and a fool could squander all he toiled to accomplish.

And, in fact, that is exactly what happened. After Solomon died, Reheboam, his son, succeeded him on the throne and plunged the nation into civil war with one foolish decision. Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel seceded and formed their own nation (1 Kings 12:1-24). Solomon’s successor had reduced the great nation Solomon had worked so hard to build to a mere shadow of its former self.

All of Solomon’s work was in vain. It was but a vapor, here one minute and gone the next. And the same could happen to you. So, if you want to find meaning in your work…

DON’T WORK FOR POSTERITY.

Don’t toil just to leave a legacy to your descendants. Don’t sweat and slave just so your children can enjoy the fruit of your labor, because they could squander it all with one foolish decision.

Solomon hated his work for that reason, and it left him hopeless.