Nothing Compares! – September 6, 2026
Ecclesiastes 2:1-1, Philippians 3:1-11
September 6, 2026
Tomorrow is Labor Day. And Labor Day began as a celebration of American workers. It was observed in New York City on September 5, 1882, when thousands of workers marched in a parade organized by the Labor Movement. The idea took hold, and in 1894, it was signed into law as a national holiday, by then president (who knows?) …Grover Cleveland.
If you think back to your history class, you know that was a time when working conditions in America were not so good! There were long hours, low wages, and very few protections for workers. So, Labor Day was meant to recognize the dignity of work and the contribution of working people to our society.
So, as we gather for worship on Labor Day Sunday, I think it’s completely appropriate to honor the spirit of Labor Day, and to recognize the dignity and contribution of working people.
But it’s also a time when it’s appropriate to ask the question, “What do we labor for?” If you think about it, for a lot of people, (and maybe you’re one of them!) that question can be answered with the word “Things.” We labor so we can have the necessities of life, and the many things that make us happy. And anyone who has ever cleaned out an attic knows that we accumulate a lot of things.
George Carlin called it our “stuff.” We work to accumulate stuff. Then when our “stuff” won’t fit in our houses any more, we get bigger houses – “to hold more stuff.” It was funny the way he said it! And it was really a commentary on our whole society! Because we all do it, don’t we? And it sounds a lot like the man in Jesus’ parable, who ran out of room in his barns, so he built a bigger barns – to hold more “stuff.” And you know the end of that parable! The Lord came to the man and said, “Your life is ending tonight. And who’s will all that ‘stuff’ be?”
So, think about it. What do we labor for? I remember a young man in my first youth group, who went to High School, but also had a job where he worked 20-30 hours a week. And when he came to youth group, he often was so tired he looked like a zombie! And I asked him once why he worked so many hours, while he was going to school. And he said, “So I can have a car.” And when I asked him why he needed a car, he said, “So I can get to work.”
I think you know what where I’m going with that! It’s a “circular argument!” “You go to work, so you can have a car, so you can go to work.” But we’re all caught up in that, aren’t we! Because we all have our “things” – our “stuff,” as George Carlin put it. And we make decisions as we go through our lives what things are the most important to us. And that changes over time, doesn’t it? Things we highly valued years ago – and had to have – are not so valued now! And they often end up in dusty boxes in our attics.
One person, who wrote a book on downsizing, said you should put things in boxes. But, she you should put a date on each box. And, if after three years from that date, you haven’t looked in that box, you throw it away without opening it! That’s kind of scary, isn’t it? Could you do that?
The very first thought I had this week – even as I heard Kari preaching last week – was a question Tony Campolo asked years ago. He asked, “Who switched the price tags?” And the idea was that somebody has switched the price tags in our world. “Imagine,” he said, “going into a store where the price tags were all switched around, and expensive watches had $10 and toothpicks were $300.” I don’t know, maybe you’d like to go in that store! Tony suggested that our world is like that. Things are greatly valued that maybe shouldn’t be, while things that should be of great worth are valued less than they should be – things like people, family, and faith.
Last week, Kari reminded us of King Solomon. And Solomon wasn’t just the wisest person in the world, he was also the richest person! He had everything! And he tells us that here in Ecclesiastes. “I had everything this world could offer! I had money, fame… stuff!” “And yet when I really thought about it, it was all for nothing!” And I love how Solomon actually said it in Ecclesiastes. “It was all vanity! And chasing after the wind!”
In contrast to that, we have Paul – in prison, as Kari reminded us last week. And he says, “I had everything! I was a well-respected religious leader, born of the best family, righteous under the law, a Pharisee. I had everything this world values!” I wonder if he was thinking of Solomon as he wrote that! But then, he wrote these words, which we’re focusing on today. He said, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth – the value – of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Paul was saying that nothing compares! Nothing compares to the worth of knowing Jesus! Do you agree with that? Do you agree with Paul? It’s hard to wrap our heads around that, isn’t it? Nothing in this life compares to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord!
But it’s hard to tell ourselves that, isn’t it? It’s hard to know if we really believe it! Because we’re all caught up in the things of this world! We all have our “stuff.” And we’re bombarded every single day by people whose sole job is to convince us that we need “more stuff.”
But it’s not as simple as that! There’s a darker side of this. It’s also hard to know the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, because we live in a world that fights against that! Listen to this! We live in a world where, for many people, God is a “convenience” at best, and where there is no sin (Because we’ve eaten the forbidden fruit of being the ones to “decide” what is sin!) And we live in a world where all truth is relative, where the Bible is “ok,” but it’s not for everyone, and where Jesus is just not that important.
Make no mistake! That is our world! And if we’re not careful, if we’re not vigilant in our faith, we will all too easily fall into the world’s understanding of all that. We’ll just listen and follow along because we don’t want to rock the boat. And, as Paul said to the Ephesians, that boat will “be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine!” And we could add to that “every wind” of lifestyle and world view. Funny, how Paul used the same word as Solomon – “wind.”
We need to remember, or we need to reclaim the realization that nothing compares! We need to think about that every day we wake up! Or it will quickly be “lost in the shuffle” of our everyday life in this world!
So, maybe we should just boil down, the whole thought for today, to those two words. Nothing compares! They’re easy to remember, and easy to focus on. You don’t have to memorize a whole passage of scripture – or one of Paul’s long sentences! And Paul loved long sentences, didn’t he!
Instead, keep it simple! Keep it something that easily sticks in your mind, grabs your attention, and makes you think. Remember those two simple words, “Nothing compares!”
Prayer
Eternal God, help us every day to remember the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord. Help us, even though we are in this world, to focus on your kingdom in our midst. Help us to know the joy you want for us in this life of faith, as we live each day for you. And we give you glory, and honor, and praise, now and forever. Amen.