SUNDAY (LIVE) - March 29, 2026 | The Grind - Ecclesiastes 2:18-26 - Hated Work

Jesus is not saying, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me and be miserable. He never says that. So, be a monk or be an ascetic or be, you know, miserable. No. Jesus is also not saying, hey, I'm going to suffer and die, Matt, so that you do not have to suffer and die. It's not escapism. Here's what Jesus is saying. Matt, I'm gonna suffer and die so that when you suffer, you can become like me. That's what Jesus is saying. [01:16:05] (34 seconds)  #TransformThroughSuffering

You can become a follower of me, and I'll use work, and I'll use marriage, and I'll use these things to make you more like me. That's what it is. It's sanctification. And work in its right spot is a brilliant tool. When you say, my goal is not to gain the whole world. My goal is to gain Jesus. Work is a brilliant tool. And it gets recalibrated. And when you're recalibrated on this simple thing, you become unreckable. [01:16:40] (33 seconds)  #WorkAsSanctification

Work is difficult. They can be difficult, and it can be painful, and it can be hard. You say, no problem. Jesus, you're going to use this difficult, painful work to help me to run with horses. So, I am going to work heartily as unto you. I'm going do my absolute best job, and I'm also going to sabbath really well. I'm gonna take rest. I'm gonna make sure that I clear my mind. I'm a human being, not a human doing. [01:15:31] (25 seconds)  #HumanBeingNotHumanDoing

And, what I see in this, I have an acronym for it, it's called the DEAL. This is the DEAL. D e e a l. This is it. This is how you're going to live. D, number one, means deny. Deny yourself. You have a culture that says act authentically. That is ridiculous. There are times I'm driving on 6th Street that I authentically want to harm other drivers. I do not act upon that because that would be bad. [01:08:41] (29 seconds)  #DenySelf

Men, when you meet a another man for the first time, and you're getting to know that man, what's the first question you ask that man? So, what do you do? Based on their answer, do you judge them? I'm a digital creator. Oh, you watch YouTube all day. Good for you. We instantly judge. Hundred years ago, you got a job. Forty years ago, you got a career. Now, it has to be a calling. [00:55:28] (28 seconds)  #CallingNotCareer

I deny myself. I say, no. That's wrong. The bible is not you're okay, I'm okay, it's all okay. The bible is you're broken and you need to be healed by Jesus Christ and transformed by his power, given a brand new heart, and you continue to be renewed by scripture, and by community, and by communion, and people, and life. That's what it is. So, you deny yourself. Deny. [01:09:10] (24 seconds)  #BrokenNeedJesus

So, can work carry all that? Meaning, purpose, identity, value. Can it carry all that? Solomon tried. That was the first half of this chapter. Solomon tried. I want this thing to carry this weight, and he ends up bummed out. Oh, man, I think it could if I had the right job. I just have the wrong job. If I had the right job, it could carry all that weight. Alright. Let me test you. [00:56:50] (26 seconds)  #WorkCantBeEverything

So, what does the bible say about work? The bible, in the book of Proverbs especially, will warn about, look out for the slugger, look out for the fool, look out for those, look out for these things. And then on the other hand, the bible will say, but be diligent and work hard, and and if you use your gift well, you'll be brought before kings. So the bible's honest that work is a, I call it a, blurs. [00:47:03] (25 seconds)  #WorkBlessingAndCurse

By the way, it's this thinking right here that sowed the seeds of slavery. Because the kings and the pharaohs, back in those days, they were considered descendants of the gods. So, they did not have to work. Instead, the other people, the primitive people had to work, and to work and to be slaves for them because it really matters what you believe. So, what does the bible say about work? [00:46:38] (29 seconds)  #BeliefsMatter

So, Solomon says, there's a way to do life that you please God, and when you do life that way, you get knowledge, the what's of life. You get wisdom, what to do in life, and joy, genuine pleasure of life. Anyone wanna live with knowledge and wisdom and joy? And I do. How do we do that? We have an advantage over Solomon because we have the words of Jesus, the creator, [01:06:38] (37 seconds)  #WisdomJoyInChrist

I'm embracing this right now. This difficulty, this pain, this toil. Satan will never tempt you with difficulty or pain or toil. Do you know that? Satan will always tempt you with, here's the easy way. Here's the profitable. It's always what he's gonna tempt you with, not difficulty. I embrace it. And when I don't, I miss out. There's a book, it was written many years ago, it's called Cradles of Eminence. [01:10:29] (29 seconds)  #EmbraceTheCrucible

What they found was it was difficulty. Three quarters of them grew up in real, real poverty. Like, real poverty poverty. The majority of them had crazy parents. Not Ward and June Cleaver, more like Alan Peggy Bundy. That's the parents they had. Twenty five percent of them had physical handicaps. You just go down the line, like, they didn't have it easy. But it was that crucible, that difficulty, [01:11:17] (30 seconds)  #DifficultyShapesGreatness

They found that happiness comes from making decisions based on your deepest held convictions. That's where happiness comes from. Because it's solid and it's straight and it keeps on doing the same things. My deepest conviction is Jesus Christ is the perfect king. I'm not, so I deny myself. Deny. Embrace. Embrace your cross. This is willingly. This is not a cross put on you. [01:09:55] (30 seconds)  #HappinessInConviction

You gotta recalibrate or you'll wreck. Anybody heard of the Mars Climate Orbiter satellite? Probably not. Because it was a disaster. It's a $125,000,000 back in nineteen ninety nine dollars. It was supposed to orbit around Mars, it never did. It was supposed to tell us about the climate of Mars, it never did, because it wrecked. And here's why. Lockheed Martin made it, designed it, [01:05:35] (29 seconds)  #RecalibrateOrWreck

It's just getting higher and higher and higher. That work has this weight to it now. It's gotta carry meaning, purpose, identity, value, all these things. So dedicate twenty years of your life to start a job because it has all that weight to it nowadays. Now, comfortably miserable. And in America now, the humble brag is this, I'm so busy. I'm so tired. Man, I'm slammed. [00:55:59] (32 seconds)  #WorkWeighsTooMuch