Redeeming Work: Faith, Hard Jobs, and Calling

Aug 17, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Work’s Chaos and the Stroller That Survived

When life pulls you in opposite directions, work becomes a wrestling match against time, demands, and unexpected chaos. The image of a stroller careening into bushes while dogs bolt toward distraction captures the tension of fractured focus. Work’s difficulty isn’t a sign of failure but a reminder of Genesis 3’s curse. Yet even in the mess, God preserves purpose. The same hands that fumble responsibilities can become hands of trust, releasing outcomes to the One who holds all things. [36:13]

"What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity."
(Ecclesiastes 2:22-23, ESV)

Reflection: Where is work pulling you in opposing directions? How might God use this tension to deepen your dependence on Him rather than your own control?

Day 2: Sweat, Thorns, and the Cross That Redeems

Work’s sweat and thorns trace back to Eden’s curse, but they also point to a Savior who wore thorns and sweat blood. Jesus didn’t avoid the grind He entered it. His crucifixion transformed labor’s futility into eternal significance. When work feels like a dead end, remember: the God who called Adam to till soil now calls you to partner with Him in restoring broken systems. Your Monday matters because His scars sanctify it. [01:10:25]

"And to Adam he said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, "You shall not eat of it," cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground.'"
(Genesis 3:17-19, ESV)

Reflection: What thorns in your work might Jesus want to transform from symbols of frustration into reminders of His redemption?

Day 3: Answering Emails as if Jesus CC’d Himself

Sacred work isn’t limited to pulpits or mission fields. It happens in spreadsheets, school pickups, and customer service calls. The pastor who changed diapers while building a church and a business models this: no task is too small when done "as for the Lord." Your faithfulness in hidden work trains muscles for eternal impact. What if today’s monotony is tomorrow’s ministry training ground? [50:00]

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."
(Colossians 3:23-24, ESV)

Reflection: What routine task could you reimagine today as an act of worship if you pictured Jesus as your primary audience?

Day 4: When Your Coworker is a Tax Collector

Jesus chose a corrupt tax collector as His disciple and a betrayer as His treasurer. His team wasn’t a dream lineup but a grace display. The coworker who grates you, the boss who misunderstands you they’re your Romans 8:28 assignment. Your workplace isn’t a obstacle to ministry it’s the mission field. How you handle petty conflicts and personality clashes preaches louder than Sunday sermons. [56:24]

"As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples."
(Matthew 9:9-10, ESV)

Reflection: Which challenging relationship at work could become your intentional opportunity to reflect Christ’s disruptive grace this week?

Day 5: Surrendering the Scramble to the Savior

When eviction notices threatened the church’s survival, the choice wasn’t between fighting or fleeing but surrendering. Scrambling to fix problems often deepens chaos. Like Moses at the Red Sea, our job isn’t to engineer escapes but to "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." What if your workplace crisis is God’s invitation to witness His deliverance? [01:08:00]

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
(Proverbs 3:5-6, ESV)

Reflection: What situation have you been trying to control that God is asking you to entrust to His redemptive timing?

Sermon Summary

Ecclesiastes tells the truth about work without dressing it up. Work under the sun can feel like toil, striving, sorrow, vexation, and even nighttime restlessness. Solomon says that life without God’s redemptive purposes is vanity, like a puff of smoke grabbed with an open hand and found empty. Solomon was not a failure looking up from the bottom. Solomon was a king looking out from success, wealth, and achievement, and still saying that work cannot carry the weight of identity.

Genesis gives the starting point. God is a working God before sin ever enters the picture. In the beginning, God created, and in the garden, God gave Adam work to cultivate. Work is good, but Genesis 3 says work is now broken. Sin brings thorns, thistles, sweat, broken systems, broken people, and inboxes that keep filling back up. Work is not evil, but work is hard.

The call to navigate hard work begins by involving God in Monday. Paul’s “whatever you do” shuts down the search for exceptions. Whatever the job, whatever the task, whatever the frustration, work is done in the name of the Lord Jesus and for the glory of God. Emails, diapers, meetings, chemistry class, mopping floors, building houses, and QuickBooks can all be redeemed when God is the true boss. Christians should be the hardest working people on the planet, not because the boss is easy or the paycheck is great, but because the work belongs to Christ.

Joseph becomes the picture of this kind of faithfulness. Joseph’s position changed from slave to inmate to second in command, but Joseph’s boss never changed. Joseph worked for God. The Christian needs godly perspective, because even a hard boss is not Satan, and even difficult coworkers are not outside the reach of kingdom faithfulness. The Christian also needs godly principles: integrity, trust, direct conflict, wise counsel, and a refusal to spread the rumor mill.

The stay-or-go question cannot be reduced to whether work is hard or easy. Hard is not a reason to leave, and easy is not a reason to stay. The better question is whether vocation is causing the believer to forsake mission. Obedience to God, love for spouse and children, and the making of disciples come before career success. Jesus brings the deepest hope here. Genesis names sweat and thorns as the curse of work, and Jesus bears sweat and thorns at the cross. Christ redeems the hard work of his people so that even the simplest and hardest labor can matter forever.

Key Takeaways

1. Work is broken, not evil Genesis does not treat work as a punishment in itself. Work exists before the fall, but sin bends it into frustration, sweat, thorns, and exhaustion. That distinction matters because the Christian does not need to despise work, but does need to tell the truth about why work hurts. Broken work can still become redeemed work when God is brought into it. [135:35]
2. God belongs in Monday’s labor Paul’s “whatever you do” removes the false split between sacred and ordinary work. The office, classroom, kitchen, shop, job site, and nursery all become places where Christ can be honored. The most spiritual act in a given hour may be doing the actual task with honesty, skill, and love before God. [144:01]
3. Kingdom workers reject cultural cues The Christian does not take work habits from the lowest standard in the room. Laziness, resentment, corner-cutting, and victimhood may feel normal in a broken workplace, but they do not belong to the kingdom of Jesus. Salt and light become visible when difficulty exposes a different source of strength, integrity, and hope. [151:01]
4. Vocation must serve mission A job is not judged only by comfort, income, or status. Vocation becomes spiritually dangerous when it requires disobedience to God, neglect of family, or abandonment of disciple-making. Career success that hollows out obedience, marriage, parenting, or witness is not success. [157:28]
5. Jesus redeems sweat and thorns Genesis names sweat and thorns as signs of work under the curse. Jesus carries both on the way to the cross, sweating drops of blood and wearing the crown of thorns. That means Christ does not stand far off from hard labor, but enters its curse in order to redeem it for God’s glory and the good of others. [166:20]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[121:24] - Everyday Faith: What If I Hate My Job?
[123:31] - Participating, Not Just Attending
[124:54] - Opening Prayer and Scripture
[127:03] - Work Is Hard
[130:36] - Job Satisfaction and Identity
[132:46] - Three Questions About Work
[133:07] - Ecclesiastes 2 Reading
[134:05] - God Is a Working God
[135:17] - Work Is Broken, Not Evil
[136:40] - Work Under the Sun
[142:22] - How Can God Use This?
[144:01] - Whatever You Do
[148:18] - Joseph Works for God
[156:58] - Stay or Go?
[165:58] - Jesus Redeems Work

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Ecclesiastes 2:22-23
“What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” [02:13:07]

Colossians 3:17
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” [02:24:01]

Colossians 3:23-24
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” [02:24:01]

1 Corinthians 10:31
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” [02:24:01]

Genesis 2:15
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” [02:15:17]

Genesis 3:17-19
“And to Adam he said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'” [02:15:35]

Observation questions

In Genesis 2 and Genesis 3, what changes about work after sin enters the world, and what stays the same? [02:15:35]
In Ecclesiastes 2:22-23, what words are used to describe life and work under the sun?
In the Colossians and 1 Corinthians passages, what repeated phrase shows that no kind of work is left out of God’s concern? [02:24:01]
What are some everyday tasks that can be done in the name of the Lord Jesus and for the glory of God? [02:25:52]

Interpretation questions

If work existed before the fall but became painful after the fall, why does it matter to say that work is broken rather than evil? [02:15:35]
Ecclesiastes describes work as vanity under the sun. How does that help explain why work becomes crushing when a person looks to it for identity, meaning, or fulfillment? [02:18:44]
Paul says, “whatever you do,” and “you are serving the Lord Christ.” How should that reshape the way a believer sees an ordinary or frustrating job? [02:25:19]
Joseph’s position changed many times, but his true Boss did not. What does that reveal about faithfulness when circumstances at work are unfair, unseen, or disappointing? [02:29:21]

Application questions

Where does work feel most broken right now—in the people, the pressure, the systems, the exhaustion, or something else? How has that been affecting the heart at home or even at night when trying to rest? [02:13:20]
Many people ask, “How do I get through this?” What might it look like this week to ask instead, “How can God use this?” in one specific situation at work, school, or home? [02:22:22]
Since Christ is the true Boss, what is one task that has been treated as small, annoying, or beneath notice that needs to be offered back to him with fresh faithfulness this week? [02:25:52]
Christians are meant to take their cues from the kingdom, not from the culture. Where is the strongest temptation right now to copy the people around you—cutting corners, complaining, checking out, or doing the bare minimum? [02:31:01]
Godly principles at work include integrity, trust, direct conflict, wise counsel, and refusing gossip. Which of those is hardest right now, and what would one concrete step of obedience look like this week? [59:33]
Hard is not a reason by itself to leave, and easy is not a reason by itself to stay. Is this season of vocation helping or hurting obedience to God, love for spouse or children, and the making of disciples? [01:02:28]
Jesus entered the curse of sweat and thorns to redeem hard work. How would remembering that change the way a believer walks into Monday, especially if the job feels unnoticed, frustrating, or heavy? [01:10:25]

Sermon Clips

68s

#WorkIsBrokenNotEvil

“In Genesis chapter three, work is now broken. But get this, work is broken. It's not evil. Some of you think your boss is Satan. There's only one of him who came to steal, kill, and destroy. Your boss may be influenced by Satan, but he's not Satan and your work is not evil. Is your work broken and hard? Yes. Genesis three tells us why. That sin infiltrates our work. It it breaks the systems of work, the circumstances of work. The people who do the work are broken and that's you and me. Not just your boss or your coworker or customer out there. That's all of us are broken by sin and sinful people go to workplaces. Therefore, we see work is broken and hard. The ground is cursed, Genesis three says. There's thorns and thistles and sweat when you work. It's not evil, but it is hard and broken.”

54s

#VocationNotComfort

“So some of you are like, yeah, but Tim, how do I make this decision? I'm in the thick of it. Should I stay or should I go? I wanna help you as we close, this morning. Here's the first thing I would say and you should write this down. Your framework should not just be about is it hard or is it easy. In fact, I would double down and tell you, you should never leave your job because it's hard. You should never stay because it's easy. That should not be the only two factors in your job. You should not just be looking at, am I uncomfortable? Is this is this kind of a drag? I'm out. Is this great? Am I getting paid? Great. Is it pretty easy? Pretty kush? I get to work from home? I'm in. That's not the Christian paradigm for whether you should stay or go. Here's a better question to ask. Is your vocation causing you to forsake your mission?”

63s

#AllWorkGlorifiesGod

“So you work hard at answering emails because it's to the glory of God. You work hard, listen, at changing diapers because it's to the glory of God. That butt paste, the way you put that thing on, to the glory of God. Listen to me, I'm serious. God sees it and God knows how you take care of those little kids. And moms who are in the thick of it right now or who are about to be, you need to know it's for the glory of God. Can we tell our moms that? We have little ones. Some of y'all been there. It's been a while and you're like, remember I just did the same thing every day and it was like, they poop, they sleep, they don't even talk to me and tell me they love them. That's to the glory of God. Every single thing that you do is to the glory of God. Building houses, working hard at going to a class, particularly one that you don't love. Working hard at leading a meeting, working hard at mopping a floor, working hard at assembling IKEA furniture for the third time is to the glory of God.”

29s

#WorkMattersToGod

“And so, one of the main reasons why you hate your job is because you're doing it devoid of God's purposes. Some of you have believed the lie that Sunday matters, but Monday is yours. God cares about Sunday, but you roll how you roll Tuesday through Friday. God cares about your quiet time fifteen minutes before you go to work, but he doesn't care about your eight hours at work.”

47s

#AskHowGodCanUseThis

“When you bring him in. And so how do we navigate broken hard work? We involve God in our work. I I want you to write down this question specifically if you're facing a hard situation at work. You got a hard boss, got a hard decision to make it work, you're just going through it at work, it's a lot, it's overwhelming. I want you to ask this question. Not just how do I get through this, but how can God use this? Many of us, we're just trying to get through it. We're just trying to get through on Monday. We're just trying to get through the week. Thank God it's Friday. Trying to it's 05:00 somewhere working for the weekend. And we're just trying to get through it. The Christian doesn't stop there. He or she says, no, how can you use this?”

38s

#ChristiansWorkHard

“That it still mattered even if people didn't see it. We just flip a few pages in our Bible. These were years of Joseph's life and he was faithful and he worked hard. Listen to me. Christians should be the hardest workers on the planet. When people are looking for jobs, employers, organizations, they should not be going to LinkedIn or hiring a search firm. They should be calling Phoenix Bible Church. And we should be able to say, hey, I got tons of people who work hard as unto the Lord. You'd wanna hire them. And especially when things don't work well, you want these guys in your corner. Right? It should be that way.”

44s

#WorkIsGoodByDesign

“That's why you have Genesis one and two, man is put to work and get this, a perfect paradise. How many of you, when you dream about a perfect paradise, you are working in that dream? Not many of us. Right? Some of you are sickos and you, yeah, you love your job way too much, you know. No, most of us were like perfect paradise is the vacation from work. And yet in God's perfect paradise, he tells Adam Genesis chapter two verse 15, here's a garden. I want you to work it and cultivate it. Pre sin, pre full. And so work work is good, but many of you know that last for two chapters.”

47s

#ObeyGodFirst

“Is your vocation causing you to forsake your mission? Here's your mission as a believer of Jesus Christ. It's to obey God. So you have the 10 commandments, the whole scripture, anything God tells us to do, his moral law, as we look at that, our main priority, your main mission on this earth is to obey God. So here's the deal. If you're working in a job or in a school where obeying your boss means you disobey God, and that's happening a lot, and you've gone to your boss about this, you've gone to your professor about this, and it's not changing, then maybe it is time to leave. Maybe it is time to leave. Your main mission, according to the book of Ephesians, is to love your spouse, to lead your kids. That's your first ministry. That's your first job.”

52s

#VocationalWorship

“And sometimes as as churches and pastors, we haven't helped you with this, so I apologize. Right? We've said, hey, you're you're a Christian accountant. Pray, give money to the church, serve on a team, which amen, yes, and hallelujah. Go to starting point and do those things. But we just told you to do that. And we didn't talk about how to glorify God as a Christian where you spend a third of your waking life at work. And that sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do as a carpenter is build the best table imaginable. And sometimes the best thing you can do and the most witness and salt and light, Matthew five, that you can do is to be an urban planner for the glory of God and to do it with excellence. When everybody else is trying to cut corners, you go hard and we've never told you that.”

61s

#WorkLikeChrist

“And yet, unfortunately, sometimes, Christians, we spiritualize language. We talk about, hey, it's all gonna burn anyway. And then we worship on Sunday, hands raised, full of devotion. We're all about it. And on Monday, we're playing Candy Crush on our phone instead of working. And as a boss who hires people on church staffs, we don't hire any of these people, but they are out there. And that is so confusing to a world who oh, I thought you're supposed to do everything to the glory of God. I thought Christians should be working hard even when it is hard. I thought Christians shouldn't be the people to say, hey, well, look at what everybody else is doing. I'm just doing what they're doing. Or hey, if I work hard and don't cut corners but my friend at work does, I'm gonna get taken advantage of. Do you take your cute cues from culture or from Christ?”

77s

#FaithfulThroughSeasons

“We see this in a guy named Joseph in the Old Testament. He starts out in work. He's he mouths off to his brothers and it's never a good idea. Right? He says, he had a dream and, like, people are gonna worship him and y'all are gonna worship me and the sun and stars are gonna worship me. Just pro tip, don't tell your brothers that. Right? Even if you think it's from God, just keep that to yourself. Okay? And he ends up in slavery, but he works hard as a slave. Even when he's falsely accused of rape, he works hard. Then he's thrown in prison for that and he works hard as an inmate. And he doesn't sit around and post on Facebook how he is not appreciated and he's not getting to actualize his gifts. He works hard as an inmate and he continues to work hard till he's second in command in Egypt. And what's so fascinating to me about Joseph is I always continue to look at his stories. Some of you are like, yeah, Joseph. I know that story. But just do you ever think about Joseph had all these positions that changed? All this pay that changed, circumstances that changed. But one thing that never changed, how he worked for the glory of God. That God was always his boss.”

72s

#ChristlikeService

“Think about Jesus Christ. Had a pretty amazing job before he came to the earth. Amen? On the throne, creating, sustaining the universe by the power of his word. Comes down to earth, he's a carpenter for thirty years. Lives a thankless life, much of his life. But he's still king of the universe. And right before he goes to the cross, what does he do? He has his coworkers, his staff team, the people who work under him. He says, you be seated, and I'm gonna get on my knees as the king of the universe and wash your feet. The king of kings and the lord of lords did not consider himself equal to god. He emptied himself, became the form of a servant, obedient even to the point of the cross. If Jesus Christ who had all the power can do that, what can you do? How can you treat people differently? Because you're a citizen of the kingdom. You're Christ like in your job operating according to different principles than the world.”

75s

#FamilyBeforeCareer

“And if your job is causing you to not do that, if it's taking you away completely from them, if they're gonna tell a story one day that some of you have about your parents that, hey, yeah, my dad worked really hard, but I never knew him. How's that working out? Many of you are in counseling because of that. Many of you, every time we talk about the father heart of God, every time it's Father's Day, you're in tears because your dad worked a lot and he had the best of intentions and I know he did. But he wasn't there to disciple you, to be with you, to cry with you, to coach you, to talk you through your doubts. And the bully at school are trying to figure out what you should do for a job. Listen, some of you are in jobs right now where you are crushing it. And on Instagram, people think you're awesome and your coworkers think you're awesome. And if there was a magazine of, like, top 100 and you're filled, you'd be inching your way up that thing and you're crushing it at work, but you're you're losing at home. And listen, if you're losing at home, you're losing at work and you're losing at life.”

73s

#DontFindIdentityInWork

“And that's the key phrase. Under the sun is the key phrase you see in Ecclesiastes over and over and over. It's this idea of everything he's talking about is work and life and pleasure devoid of God. Without God at the center. This is what it would be like. And he says specifically in this text, it is like vanity. Literally, it's heavel, it's a puff of smoke. And what you see in Ecclesiastes is often what we see in our culture, which is we know it's a puff of smoke, but that doesn't mean we're not trying to catch it. Like, we look for work to be our identity. We look for work to be our success, our status symbol, who we are. This is why if you've ever lost your job or gotten demoted at your job, you get depressed. This is why sometimes when people retire, they think, what do I do now? Right? Is because they've put their job, what they do, according to who they are, devoid of God and his redemptive purposes. And they found that chasing after the wind comes up dry, comes up dry.”

60s

#MadeToWork

“So why is work hard? Some of you who've been here in this series might think, hey, Tim, I thought work is good. I thought we established that week one of the series, and we did. We looked at that of all the characteristics God has. God's omniscient. He's all knowing. God's omnipresent. He's everywhere at all times. God is completely loving and just. He's compassionate. God is all those things. And as we started out in this series, one of the things I I just never really thought about is the first page of scripture doesn't start with any of those characteristics. It starts with God is a working God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And we see God form man from the dust. And we see God as a a working God. That's the first characteristic that we learn about who God is. What we also see is that we are made in God's image. In God's good image, we are called to do good work.”

61s

#JobDoesntDefineYou

“What happens in a culture that tells you your job is not just what you do, it is who you are when that happens. Think about this. When you're little, what do people ask you? What do you wanna be when you grow up? My daughter who's a senior in high school about to go to college. She's just going to college people, But everybody's asking her, what do you wanna be? I'm like, she's my daughter. That's what she is. But they're asking, like, do you wanna be an occupational therapist? Do you wanna be an attorney? Do you wanna be an accountant? Do you wanna be the president of The United States Of America? Like, what do you wanna be? Because in America, what you do is not just what you do, it's who you are. It's a status symbol. We do it today. Hey, I'm a doctor. I'm an attorney. I'm an accountant. I'm an urban planner. I'm a teacher. And yet, we're not fulfilled in our identity because it should never be our identity.”

36s

#MeaningNeedsGod

“And so that's what Solomon is painting the picture of. And what I think is so interesting is you look at the text verse 22, he says it's toil, it's striving. Verse 23, days are full of sorrow but also nights are full of restlessness. Anybody been there? And yet, Solomon was not a janitor. He was a king. A wealthy king. A wise king. He had a great job. And yet he sang without God and without God's involvement is meaningless. A chasing after the wind, a grabbing for a puff of smoke and coming up empty.”

49s

#IntegrityAtWork

“Are you so zeroed in on your hardship and your victimhood that you don't have any perspective? Go on a mission trip to a third world country. You think your job's hard? Go on a mission trip. That's your homework. Go to an impoverished part of our city and see hard and broaden your perspective and then operate with godly principles. Once you have that perspective, operate with godly principles. Read the proverbs. Don't cut corners. Work with integrity. Assume the best, not always the worst. This is hard for a lot of us. You go into work assuming the worst about your boss and your coworkers and customers. That's not a good starting place. You wanna trust them. Give them the benefit of the doubt. And you wanna be a trustworthy person.”

40s

#WorkInCommunity

“You wanna work with integrity even when nobody's watching, especially when nobody's watching. Seek wise counsel. Don't work on an island. Come to starting point. Be a part of a community. Don't just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and go out this thing and live the American dream. That's not the kingdom dream. The kingdom dream is saying, he had a hard week at work. Can you pray for me? Hey, I'm trying to navigate whether I should stay or go from this job. Can you come alongside and help me do that? That is one of the most Christ like things you can ever do. Operate like Philippians two. Consider others better than yourselves. It's not because they're better than you. You consider them better.”

42s

#JobSupportsYourMission

“And so some of you do need to think about, am I am I able to lead my spouse, lead my kids, and work this job? I talked to a girl the other day and she just honestly said, I came to realization, no, I wasn't and I had to quit my job and it was really hard to do. And some of you, that may be your cue as you pray and discern with wise counsel if you should stay or go. Your main mission is to obey God, love your spouse, lead your kids, make disciples of all all nations. This is the great commission that not just pastors or missionaries are into. This is your main job. The reason why you're on this earth is to make disciples. Is your job helping you do that?”

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