Working Diligently and Honestly: Serving Christ Through Our Labor

This teaching emphasizes that work is a pre-fall good given by God, not a curse, and should be approached as worship unto the Lord rather than merely earning a paycheck. The discussion explores how believers should view their labor—whether in traditional jobs or personal pursuits—as opportunities for sanctification and glorifying God. The speakers stress that all honest labor leads to profit and that consistency in diligent work, done with integrity and unto Christ, transforms not only individuals but families and communities. The message challenges listeners to reject limiting beliefs about work and income, instead pursuing what they love while maintaining ethical standards rooted in relationship with God. Work becomes a means of serving others, providing for needs, and avoiding becoming a burden, all while understanding that obstacles and difficulties in work are part of God's sanctifying process.

Key Points:

• Work is a pre-fall good that existed before sin entered the world, making it inherently good regardless of salvation status
• The distinction between viewing work as a negative obligation versus understanding it as worship unto God (Colossians 3:23)
• All labor leads to profit when done diligently and honestly, regardless of how low one might esteem the job
• To whom much is given, much is required—abundance comes with greater responsibility and requirements
• Believers should pursue what they love and figure out how to get paid for it, rather than chasing arbitrary income goals
• Idle chatter and excuses lead to poverty, while putting one foot in front of the other leads to profit
• Work provides opportunities for sanctification as believers encounter obstacles, friction, and problems
• The importance of working honestly without deception, manipulation, or being a busybody concerned with others' affairs
• Consistency over time compounds—we overestimate what we can accomplish short-term but underestimate what diligence achieves long-term
• Family involvement in productive activities (like running together) exemplifies honoring God through daily actions

Scripture Reference:

• Colossians 3:23 - "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters"
• 1 Corinthians 10:31 - "Whether you eat or drink, do all things to the glory of God"
• Romans 8:28 - "For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose"
• Proverbs 14:23 - "In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty"
• 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 - "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat... work in quietness and eat their own bread"
• Luke 12:48 - "To whom much is given, much is required"

Stories:

• Aswan's personal testimony of hearing Colossians 3:23 seven years ago while working two part-time jobs and sleeping in a gym, which transformed his life and led to becoming a six-time published author
• The story of Brian Cashman (Yankees GM) asking for a one-year contract to prove he was good enough for the job before demanding long-term compensation
• Aswan's experience at a 5K race encountering a family (mother, father, and son) who ran together and then went to a baseball game, exemplifying family worship through active living
• Aaron's personal story of having a chaotic week with soccer tournaments, Memorial Day ceremonies, family obligations, and teaching responsibilities, then refocusing on consistency and family worship
• The observation that sports figures like Ray Lewis and Tom Brady started doing what they loved at seven years old but didn't get paid until their twenties

Support Brian Sauvé here: https://www.briansauve.com/even-dragons-shall-him-praise

Transcript

 All right, good evening, good afternoon, good morning, good whatever.

You fill in the blank as it pertains to whatever time of day you are consuming this because the great thing about what we talk about here is it's evergreen.

You could plug this in at 3 a.m.

in the morning, right after a long day of work, a fight, all sorts of things going on, and you just plug one of these in.

 and i guarantee you the promises that after you're done with it you would have been in a better place all right because today we are specifically we're on the by the way as one crookshank here one and only move simply speaking here with my guy aaron guyette price listen this has been an incredible incredible incredible journey and it's almost feeling like we're just getting started uh but we've had a incredible time we're on lesson six

 That is all about working diligently and honestly serving the Christ in our labor.

So just so to be fully transparent with you listeners, I get these, I get the emails from Aaron and I read the, I read, I usually read the title and then I go through the verses.

And this week I didn't even not, did not even have to read the verse because I knew exactly which, which verse he was going to.

And it's one of my favorites, the favorite, the one that really has taken my life and transformed that I first heard it probably a

 believe it or not, about seven years ago.

Yeah, I was 29.

I was just turning 30.

So I was just about seven years ago when I first heard it, just moved to Florida.

And all I was doing was working.

I got two part-time jobs, trying to make it work, sleeping out of a damn gym and couch in the back of a gym.

And I heard that verse, do all your work unto God and not unto man, completely changed everything.

Six-time published author now, podcast videos all over the place.

So

 You know, it is going to be a very rewarding conversation, not only for myself, but for you guys as well.

So before I get too going into that verse, because I can, Aaron, welcome.

Welcome back.

How are you?

Man, that was a beautiful, beautiful introduction, Aswan.

I appreciate that.

Yeah, working diligently and honestly.

Yeah.

 really difficult to talk about finances, to talk about how we ought to think about dollars.

We ought to think about money from a biblical perspective without inserting work.

We work and that is how we earn our dollars.

And we know that is true because God says it in his word so many times.

Work

 this is something that blew my mind.

So just like Colossians 3.23 blew your mind, and that's very similar to me for the 1 Corinthians 10.31, which is similar, right?

Whether you eat or whether you drink, do all things to the glory of God, right?

So a very similar story for me, but this blew my mind.

And I don't know why I didn't catch it before, but work is a pre-fall good, right?

 Work is a pre-fall good.

So when God makes Adam and Eve, when he creates Adam and Eve, very good, right?

He then says that they are going to work the ground, that they are going to work the garden.

And that is before work.

 the eating of the forbidden fruit.

That is before Satan steps into the picture.

And so work, post-fall, pre-fall, whether you are saved unto Christ or not, work is going to be that good thing that God has created for you.

 And so we ought to think about, okay, how should we work?

And Colossians 3.23, perfect verse.

1 Corinthians 10.31, perfect verse.

We're gonna work as a glory to God.

And so it says, we work not merely to earn a paycheck, but as unto the Lord, as you said, Colossians 3.23, honest, diligent effort glorifies Christ and provides for our needs so we could be generous and avoid burdening others.

 Yes.

And you got to throw this caveat in there as well.

There is a difference between a job and work.

All right.

And it's another thing I picked up on just through my years of seeing how people operate and seeing the way they use the term work as if it's something negative.

It is nothing negative at all about work.

I read this.

I believe I mentioned this on the first first lesson we did with Russell Simmons.

Do you?

 where he made the point was saying there's no such thing as a dead end job.

No such thing.

If you're getting a check and you're able to do something with it, if you're thinking it the right way, if you're taking those dollars and putting them towards the Lord and putting them towards faith and putting them towards the right things, then what I don't care what it is you're doing to earn a check.

There's something that you can do.

You can improve.

All right.

 That's a very, very big distinction because too often do we hear that term work and automatically alerts go up and raises red flags as if it's something bad or something you have to do because more than likely the adults in your life talked about work as if it was something negative.

You have to unlearn that stuff, unlearn it very, very quickly because you're going to run into folks who love what they do.

They can't stop working.

And if you approach it with the mentality of you hate work, they're just going to roll right over.

They're going to keep moving and they won't even...

 They won't even resonate with the way you think.

And you won't even, you would have missed an opportunity that would have been great for you.

 Yeah, no, absolutely.

Work is this beautiful sanctifying opportunity for the Holy Spirit to step into our lives.

So I go out, I work, I'm going to encounter.

Now, post-fall, we know you are guaranteed, whether you're in Christ or whether you're a non-believer, right?

Which everybody listening to this, obviously you're believers.

But let's say you're listening to this and you're like, I don't know, I want to kick the tires on this.

 Christianity thing, right?

 you are guaranteed by the sweat of your brow.

You are guaranteed thorns and thistles, right?

You are guaranteed problems, stress, friction when you work.

So just know that going in, if you know that going in, right?

All things unto the Lord and all things are created by him.

And it is for your good, even those bad things, right?

That you're gonna encounter, it is for your good, right?

And that is, so we've got,

 And know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose, right?

Romans 8, 28.

So we know that even in the friction, even in the problems, as you work diligently, something's going to get in the way of your diligence.

It's going to impede you.

It's going to be an obstacle.

It's going to be problematic.

It's going to be frictional.

You're going to...

 The evil one is going to sow doubt, right, into your mind as you push forward and as you do this thing.

Know that that is good.

That ultimately will be for good for those that are called in accordance or called according, as it says here, those who are called according to his purpose, right?

 Because he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, to be conformed to Christ, right?

In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Identification opportunity as you work, as you encounter those problems, right?

 Continue to do it diligently.

Continue to do it honestly.

No deception, no manipulation, no lying to yourself, right?

No lying to others.

As you walk forward, plod forward and know that even in those obstacles, even when it feels like, oh man, maybe I shouldn't be doing that thing anymore.

Likely that is the thorns in the thistles.

Likely that is the sweat of your brow.

 And it's odd because sometimes we're not working the field now, but we are still working in whether it's tech or something.

And I can't, it doesn't matter which vocation I have had, all of them have problems.

I'm always running into issues.

I know that that is God's way of sanctifying me to his ultimate glory.

 And there's another point I want to make in that.

And again, folks, you and Aaron, you can tell me if you agree with it or not, but I do personally believe, and I grew up in Maryland and I played linebacker there.

I do believe Ray Lewis is the greatest football player to have ever lived, to ever strap him up.

I know I get a lot of... Dang!

Dang!

Better get a whole lot of love and a whole lot of hate.

You guys want to go at me, but I just said I gave you the context.

I grew up in Maryland playing linebacker, so obviously...

 Very, very biased.

But on a serious note, if you just look at probably the reason I say that is because I listen to so much of his motivation.

And he talks about his favorite verses, to whom much is given, much is required.

And that one hits home because you can look at whether it's him or whether it's Tom Brady, all these people that are, you know, quote unquote famous and rich and famous and doing big things, the requirement that they have, or even your local, whoever you're

 local politician is or your local, the big time person in your company, the one that's making all the money, making all the decisions to whom much is given, much of that is required.

So the question you got to ask yourself, if you want to get into abundance, if you want to have the money or you want to have the wealth, you got to ask yourself, what am I asking and what kind of requirements am I asking of myself?

 Am I going to my boss?

Am I going to my managers?

Hey, give me that responsibility before you pay me.

Give me that responsibility.

Give me the opportunity to show that I'm good enough to do the job.

And then the money comes.

I'll never forget this story.

It's actually I'm a big sports guy, sports guy, guy.

So I have a lot of these sports stories in my head.

But Brian Cashman was the he was the.

 gm for the yankees for years and he asked john steinberg for i don't know if i told the story here but he did ask john steinberg for a one-year contract he asked him for a one-year contract because he wanted to prove if he was good enough to do the job another one of those things that i've heard that completely changed the way i think and i the reason we do this show and the reason we're talking about working diligently and honestly is because you got to get into the habit of early and early and it has to happen like now if it's

 And I hate to put an age on it, but you got to get into the habit as early as possible.

Start doing what you love to do.

Start doing what you love to do.

And then over time, you're going to love it so much that you'll figure out how to get paid for it.

But you got to be doing the work you love.

 in a way and in such a emphatic fashion that eventually somebody will pay you for it all these people i just mentioned they started doing what they loved at seven years old whether you want to talk about tom brady or those start doing what they loved seven years old they didn't get paid for until they was in their 20s okay this this is just the reality of the situation to whom much is given much is required there was a lot of requirements going into whatever

 Whoever came into the riches before they actually got the physical cash.

That's an important thing to think about when you're talking about work, because you could be working like right now we're working, but it does not feel like it at all because we love what we're doing.

We love what we're preaching.

We love what we're all about.

That's an important distinction.

That's right.

Yeah.

And that's a perfect, perfect caveat to Proverbs 14, 23.

So this is to all of you out there.

 All of you brothers of Christ out there, in all labor, there is profit.

All labor, there is profit.

But idle chatter leads only to poverty.

So idle chatter is like, oh, I could have, should have, would have.

Oh, yeah, I was going to do this, but then this happened.

There's all sorts of idle chatter where you talk about what you could have, should have, would have done.

 actually put in front of the other.

But as long as you're putting one foot in front of the other, regardless of how low you might esteem that job, regardless of how low you might esteem that job, it's still one foot in front of the other.

It is labor, and all labor leads to profit.

All leads to profit.

And man, like...

 that should give you confidence to go and pursue, right?

Pursue whatever it is that you are desiring, right?

Whatever it is that the Lord has put into your heart, go do it and go do it unto the Lord.

And yeah, you might not make money right away, right?

You have...

 Those sports examples are prime examples.

But the same thing goes with, there's a lot of kids these days that want to get into a job that immediately pays them six digits, seven digits.

Like, oh, I did my time in college or I did my time at university or I did my time at whatever.

And so I'm owed all of this money.

No, no, no, no, you're not.

 But know that all labor leads to profit.

So as you put one foot in front of the other, as you gain experience, as you gain your network, as you talk to more people and work with more people and do these things under the Lord, yeah, it will lead to profit.

You will get profit, right?

So rest assured that that is a promise that the Lord has given to us.

 Right.

And a lot of this, and I don't want to simplify this because I graduated from college in 2011.

This was right around Facebook was becoming the thing.

The internet was, you know, taking over everybody's life.

People were not even having conversations directly anymore, which served me in a lot of ways because I got an opportunity to reach out to people all over the world.

And I really, there's plenty of days where I didn't even need to talk to any humans.

I just did my research all day, read all day.

So there's a lot of information available.

 Again, the trade-off to that is I was of the mindset, hey, I have this college degree.

Where's my six-figure job?

Where's my seven-figure job?

When in my head over the time as I was taking in this information is why six figures and why not seven figures?

 who told you it had to be six figures who told you you know it's more of a mindset than anything and that is that's what a lot of people are not understanding especially today when you have the ai doing a lot of the thinking and organizing for you now so they're taking even more labor off your plate so you can focus on what you do but the reality of it is too often do we

 have people that are continuously, continuously looking for excuses and having some limiting numbers.

Like when you say six figures, it's like, well, I mean, how do you know six figures?

Is six figures even going to be a lot of money come 2030?

Who knows?

You know, again, these are things that just get thrown out there.

A young kid hears it and then they run with it and they think, OK, that's specifically what I have to take.

But and as good as it may sound, it is it is taken away.

Again, like Jim Collins says, it's good.

It's the enemy of greats.

 If you start putting these limits on yourself, and I remember telling this in the beginning when we first started this, when I heard that young man tell me, oh, he'd be happy with $80,000 a year, it was like, well, where'd you get that number from?

The reality of it is there's no limit.

 on how much money you can have in your bank account.

And you shouldn't put those limits at all.

Just go out.

I want to do what I love and I'm going to figure out how to make the most money doing it because I know I'm serving people in the right way.

That's where the challenge.

And that's where, in my opinion, the work that you do in your faith and your walk with Christ becomes so important because the ethical component to it, that's what becomes huge.

And there's a lot of pastors out there, a lot of churches out there that do the opposite.

Again, I'm sure we can go down a tangent on that as well.

 But it's so important that you understand the ethical element to it.

And that's where the relationship with God, folks, not the religion, the relationship with God that you have becomes absolutely paramount.

And it comes on every single session, every single week.

It boils down to that point of it.

And that's why we're here to refresh that relationship.

Come on.

Come on.

I know it's Saturday, but we preach this morning.

 get you back because i know whatever you went that's right whatever went down this week you freaked out a little bit but all right let's come on back come on back come on back it's still here that's right yeah and uh and again so the reframe and and you reframed i thought really good last week where it's like you know um if the religion is dry bones right if you're just checking a box uh

 You know, Christer, Christians, right?

Christmas and Easter, I just show up on these days.

Or, yeah, I show up every Sunday as dry bones.

I don't, there is no love, right?

There is no love for the Lord.

There is no love for others.

And that is when religion is the crusty, dry bones religion.

 The religion is rich when there is that relationship with the Lord, right?

Love for the Lord, love for other relationship with others, wanting to serve others as better than yourself, right?

Think of others as better than yourself.

And so 2 Thessalonians 3, 10 through 12, I think is...

 A great way where we can kind of round this final corner and talk about this for a little bit.

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this.

If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

So even back then, Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, he's like, if you're not going to work, well, then guess what?

You ain't going to eat.

For we hear that some of you, some who walk among you,

 in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busy bodies.

They're more worried about, well, hey, are you doing the right thing?

Are you doing the right thing?

And that is the Christians in name only that give Christianity a bad name, that give religion its dry bones.

 Because, oh, no, you're not doing this worship piece right.

You're not doing this thing right.

He said, you know what?

Stop being worried about me and get your nose to the grindstone, right?

Get your hand on the plow.

Stop looking back.

Stop worrying about everything else, everybody else, right?

When your hand's on the plow, you need to look forward.

 and and nurture and and um and cultivate your field cultivate your crops so now those who who are such we command and exhort through our lord jesus christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread and and so since right this is

 and this is talking about uh like uh before it it's it's talking about them not following not following the work following the epistles not following the letters right that have been sent to them so that they were christians and they're starting to veer off the path right so hey this is to keep you from veering off the path don't be a busybody and and work and so again the pre-fall gift work is going to be the thing

 that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to use to sanctify you, to nurture you, to build you up in the body of believers.

And it's something that you can use to serve other people with.

 It's something that you can use to serve your own family with.

And so don't be a busybody.

Get back to work.

And when you get back to work, guess what?

Everybody's going to enjoy the bread or the profit that comes from that, from the Lord and his kingdom building that's going to happen to even just your community, whether theirs or not.

They're going to pay for it.

 and bolstering that your profit from your work is going to make.

And so we think about each day and each month.

This is a saying that I used to say all the time in the fitness industry.

And man, it works in every area and aspect of our life.

We overestimate what we can get done in an hour, in a day, in a week.

And we severely underestimate what we can accomplish in a year.

 and in a decade.

So if you are consistent, if you are diligent, if you are working honestly, all of those things add up and just like compounding interest, right?

All of that work adds up, all of that profit adds up.

And now you start to shift whole families, whole congregations, whole communities to the worship of the Lord through that diligence, through that honest work that you do day after day after day.

 Yeah, I'm so happy you brought up both fitness and family.

I just did another 5k this morning.

And right before the race started, I happened to spark up a conversation with a mother who's next to her son.

And the reason I became a runner is because my mother got me into running, which by the way, happy birthday, mom.

She was

 We celebrated her birthday yesterday.

I'm not going to put her.

Yeah.

But it was kind of hit me with the triggers because I'm looking at this kid and I remember kind of chatting with her before the race started.

I'm like, you know, it was my mom.

I got me to run in and the kids looking at like, OK, it's like another one.

Right.

But the mom looks at me.

She goes, you got to hurry to start this time.

You got to take them to a baseball game after.

I'm like, wow.

 So you got a mom who was very physically in shape.

The dad was right there in front of us.

He had, I think it was like the Tough Mudder run.

No, the Ironman.

He did the Ironman.

And the parents and then they did the run with them.

And then right after they go take them to a baseball game.

 Again, these are things that, to me, that's doing God's work.

And that's not a religion.

That's not church.

That's not some pastor that's, you know, they're having.

They're within their own home.

They're waking up early on a Saturday morning.

Hey, we're going to do this 5K.

That was for mental health, by the way.

 The 5k was like a mental health challenge type of a 5k.

And I believe if I'm not mistaken, I remember passing him.

He was, he was, he almost beat me.

I mean, he had me and then I passed him, but the young one was pretty fast.

I will give him that.

But the bottom line is the whole family was out and then they went to a baseball game to support them.

So whether you win the baseball game or not, whether you came in first place at the five, none of that stuff matters.

The fact that they were out there doing the work as a family and,

 To me, that is the ultimate thing when it comes to especially this particular work diligently and honestly in serving Christ our Lord, because it is not this whole thing where you see the pastor dressed up in a robe and you have to memorize things.

It is actually what you're doing day to day to honor Christ.

 God and honor your faith and really really take advantage of the 24 hours you have or are you just you know waking are you now waking up on a Saturday morning it's 11 54 and you're wondering why your Mondays through Fridays aren't improving it's because you're taking what a whole Saturday and you're not putting in any work you're not actually going out being productive

 Hey, only you can answer that question, folks.

Only you can answer that question.

I'm here to provide the resources.

Me and Aaron are here to provide the resources.

And we can preach on this for hours upon hours.

But at some point, you got to just wake up and say, done with it.

I can't do it.

Because you will wake up and you will get to an age where you did not even realize, like, oh my gosh, where did the years go?

You cannot let, don't let that day happen for you.

Get up and go do something now.

Like right now, let this be your calling garden.

 That's right.

Yeah.

And just remember down at the bottom, right, there is a link to meet up with Aswan.

Like he's offering that to you free of charge, just that first meeting, get to know who you are, what you're going through specifically so he can help you specifically in your particular situation.

I will share a little bit of my particular situation.

So last week we had our lesson five.

It was

 Incredible.

It was awesome.

And then my entire Saturday was filled with all sorts of soccer.

We had two tournaments for two of my daughters.

 My entire Saturday got smoked.

I still took Sabbath on Sunday.

I still rested on Sunday.

And then my entire day was smoked because for Memorial Day as a Marine, you know, I do honor art at two cemeteries, right?

And then my parents happened to get a boat and then I was like trying to meet them and then I had to come back and do some other.

And so...

 And then that was like the beginning of my week.

And then it's, as a teacher, as you know, like for us, we're coming up to finals.

So then my whole week, and then I'm still trying to do the medicals.

And then leaders of leaders is like, man, okay, this is wild.

And I didn't, and I'll just admit, like I didn't have my best foot forward.

I felt like I was reacting to everything.

I wasn't organized.

I wasn't on it.

But you know what?

The Lord is so good.

He gives us another day.

 And then I said to my family this week, I was like, hey, last week was crazy.

But guess what?

I'm going to do this podcast.

I'm going to do this lesson with Aswan.

And then when it's done, hey, we're going to do family time, family worship, right?

Consistent in our... Get back to consistency in our family worship.

And then...

 Then I'm going to work on that bathroom remodel that I promised so many months ago.

And then I can, okay, we're going to look at the week, we're going to reorganize, we're going to reprioritize, and then we're going to step forward again.

Working diligently, working honestly, and being honest with myself.

It's like, hey, that wasn't a perfect week.

 that's okay.

Right.

There is redemption in Christ.

And today is a new day.

The Lord has given me this day.

Thank you, Lord.

Right.

And, and we don't know, we don't know how many days we have.

So we, we step out.

I'm going to glorify God.

And this is given me with, with Aswan right now with my family right after this.

Right.

And so on and so on and so forth.

And, and,

 We all get this opportunity.

We all get the same amount of time, right?

Same amount of time as Elon Musk, same amount of time as Tony Robbins or whoever you want to, whoever you want to say, whoever you look up to.

We all get the same, the same amount of days, the same amount of hours.

So let's work diligently and honestly.

 And not only that, I want to make sure it gets mentioned, too.

These are good problems to have.

The problems that means you're being productive.

You know, the problems where he's not just Memorial Day.

OK, I'm just going to sleep in all day.

There were obviously things that needed to be done.

And these are problems that you want to have because now, you know, you're actually taking advantage of taking taking time to actually do be productive with your life.

So that that's a point that has to be made as well.

 I appreciate that, Aswan.

And I appreciate all you listening.

Serve Christ in our labor.

Do it unto the Lord, as Aswan so perfectly put at the very beginning.

And yeah, check out Aswan.

Get some time with him.

Have him help you out.

And we look forward to, man, our final show next week.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

It's going to be a great one.