Wise With Work - Brendan Hurley - 24th May 2026

Well, a couple of things before we begin. The

first is if you're playing along at home in your

growth groups, you'll know that we've got a booklet

and today we're actually going out of order.

It was meant to be wise with wealth. But we're

actually doing WISE with work, just because I

had to rewrite the Sermon on Wealth, and it's

nothing to do with the state of the economy or

anything, I just hadn't written one before. And

so I just thought I'd save myself a bit of time

and do it next week. So yeah, we're doing work

this week, so it will be a bit backwards. The

second thing to let you know about is that we've

got Q &A today, so if you want to phone in and

text in a question and remain anonymous, you

totally can, or you can do it the old -fashioned

way, put up your hand and let everyone know who

you are. But we're going to start now. I'm going

to pray. If you've got your Bible open, it'd

be great to have Proverbs there open in front

of you. Let's pray. Let's ask God for help as

we dig into His Word. Gracious Heavenly Father,

we thank you that you're a speaking God. We thank

you that you give us wisdom in your word and

we pray that you would help us to see the great

wisdom that is found in the work of Jesus Christ.

And we ask this in his name. Amen. Well, I first

started working in ministry in 2008. It seems

like a little while ago. But before that, I had

a variety of jobs. I was a barista at one point.

I was a marketing student. I was a footy umpire.

I did some work at the Jack Newton Junior Golf

Foundation as a marketing intern. And I had a

fancy title at the bank as a customer service

officer. which just means bank teller. And each

job was so different. One job, I'd be steaming

milk for someone. Other jobs, like footy umpire,

I had parents yelling at me because I didn't

pay their son the free kick. As a bank teller,

I got held up once, but I'll save that one for

another day. But despite the differences, and

I mean, they're very different jobs, aren't they?

Bank teller to barista to footy umpire. But despite

the differences, there's a lot of overlap. That's

what I found. There's a lot of overlap in the

tricky things of any workplace. How do you motivate

yourself? How do you handle office politics?

How do you handle those difficult co -workers?

And I'm sure it's the same for everybody here.

I mean, we've got all sorts of different jobs

in this room. We've got engineers. We've got

teachers. We've got scientists. We've got, I

mean, people who are retired. We've got stay

-at -home parents, the hardest job of all. And

yet all of us, I reckon, will say that the similarities

are there for those tricky things. I mean, the

office politics, if you're a stay -at -home parent,

can be really confusing. But yet here's the thing.

Some of us will get out of bed tomorrow, whatever

job we have, some of us will get out of bed tomorrow

really enthusiastically, won't we? We'll wake

up with a spring in our step, we're ready to

go. And some of us will be going to the same

sort of job, and we won't. We won't have that

enthusiasm to get out of bed and go to work.

We'll want to hit the snooze alarm, we'll want

to call in sick. Because even though the struggles

are similar, some of us will be keen to go and

others of us won't. And so I want to ask today,

what will shape how we turn up for work? What

will shape how we turn up for work? What will

make us turn up gladly, calmly, enthusiastically?

Now, I get it, external factors can help. really

good pay makes it easier to get out of bed and

go to work, doesn't it? You know, all the benefits,

you get the prime parking spot, you know, you

get the corner office with the great view, all

of that, it helps. And especially if it's a nice

work culture and everyone gets along, that helps

too. It's easy to go to work when things are

like that, where you feel valued, where everyone

gets along. But still, do you want your attitude,

your mindset, the way you turn up to be controlled

by other people or by circumstances? How do you

turn up well, even when it's hard? That's what

I want to ask today. Because if you can, you

can bring about positive change in your workplace.

If you can, you can actually likely attract more

customers or get promoted. If you can, you can

enjoy your work and find meaning when it really

sucks sometimes. And best of all, if you can,

you can be an honouring witness to the Lord Jesus.

So we need to talk about being wise at work,

understanding how to get the best out of yourself,

how to navigate the complexities and the stresses

of any workplace. And Proverbs 10 -25 in light

of the Gospel really helps us with that. And

here's the big thing we're going to see today

as we look at Proverbs. Seeing Jesus at work

reshapes how you show up to work. There's one

thing you take away from today, I hope it's that.

Seeing Jesus at work reshapes how you show up

to work. And there's three different ways that

it will shape how you show up at work. There

may be well more, but three that we're going

to look at today. Firstly, when you're seeing

Jesus at work and you're showing up to work differently,

you'll possess a good work ethic. You'll possess

a good work ethic. Secondly, you'll promote a

calm workplace. You'll promote a calm workplace.

And thirdly, You'll plan out your work well.

You'll plan out your work well. So let's have

a look at the first one. You'll possess a good

work ethic. We see this all over Proverbs. Here's

a couple of verses that highlight it. The soul

of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while

the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Or like vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the

eyes, oh, that hurts, you know, that's the idea.

So is the sluggard to those who send him. See,

a good work ethic helps you so much and helps

your workplace so much. It's hard to get a raise,

hard to get a promotion, hard to get new customers,

hard to get anything if there's a poor work ethic.

So to have a good work ethic, well, things will

go well, generally speaking. But also, it's so

important to work with people who have that same

good work ethic, isn't it? Relying on a sluggard

is painful and irritating. They're not the sort

of person you delegate work to, are they? It's

good to know that. It's like, as the proverb

says, vinegar and smoke. I remember one workplace,

one church I worked in, there was a ministry

apprentice there and when he first started he

had a poor work ethic. He came late and left

early. When we were there he would goof off all

the time. He didn't add much value to the staff

team and it stung all of us. There was a lot

of vinegar and a lot of smoke going on. And sadly

for him at the end of his apprenticeship there

was no role. afterward for him. And it was very

sad and very disappointing. How do you motivate

someone like that? How do you motivate yourself

if you're feeling like that? Maybe you're going

the whole, oh, I tried working really hard in

my workplace. I saw this great carrot and it

just was a real disappointment. I'm not going

to bother. I'm going to do the whole quiet quitting

thing now. Just do the bare minimum. How do you

motivate yourself or someone else when you're

in that headspace? Well, it comes, especially

if you've got Christians there, it comes from

a deep love for one another. When you're free

from fear, when you're free from selfishness,

when you want to love other people, that makes

you work hard, doesn't it? Especially when you

see Jesus at work for you. I remember with this

apprentice, as his love for Jesus grew, his work

got better. His work ethic changed and it started

to improve. Sadly, it didn't improve enough for

him to have a job at the end, but it improved

because he could see how much Jesus loved him.

He could see how much Jesus had worked for him

and it changed his heart and it changed his mindset

and he had a new work ethic. When you get stuck

like that, go back to Jesus. See the work He

has done for you. Now, we've got to be careful

not to all or nothing this as well, by the way.

Because it's easy to start, you know, looking

at it and going, all right, well, I'm going to

do the whole judging thing, and I'm going to

go around and, oh, they're sluggard, and they're

not, and they're diligent, and oh, well, I'm

diligent, and oh, there's another sluggard there.

It's very easy to just start to classify yourself

and others, to pigeonhole people, to get too

simplistic, to go from being discerning to very

judgmental. Now wisdom is understanding how the

world works and it's trying to unearth the intricacies

and the nuances of how the world works and trying

to understand where the balance lies and that

there are differences and times and places and

contexts. So if you carefully read proverbs,

you'll see there's intricacies and nuances everywhere

that emerge. It's about being curious. When is

it laziness? When is it, you know, working too

hard? When is it getting the balance right? Here's

a great verse that sort of helps speak into that.

The slugger does not plough in the autumn. He

will seek at harvest. and have nothing. So it's

not saying, like, let's all be workaholics and

run ourselves into the ground. The sluggard doesn't

attune to the rhythms of life. They over -rest

and especially they rest at the wrong times.

We've got to remember God is not anti -rest,

is he? He's the God of Sabbath. We need rest.

The way of wisdom is to get the balance right.

It's to get that true work -life balance. It's

a bit like this. So there's the sluggard, there's

the workaholic, and we want to be the one in

the middle. We want to be diligent. Have you

got that balance right? How? How do you get the

balance right? It's by seeing Jesus at work.

How did he work? Well, Jesus slept in the boat

because he was tired after lots of ministry,

didn't he? It's okay to have a break. It's okay

to rest. There's a time and a place to rest and

rest well. And he told his disciples to come

away and rest a while because he could see they

needed rest. But there were times where he'd

see the crowds and he'd have compassion on them,

and he'd push through even though he was exhausted.

See, Jesus pivoted between hard work and healing

rest, trying to work out when was the appropriate

time for each. And the way we work it out is

a bit of trial and error, but it's especially

by looking at the Lord Jesus and seeing what

he did. so that we can get the balance right.

So is that what you do? Are you leaning toward

the sluggard? Are you leaning toward the workaholic?

Do you get the balance right as the diligent

does in Proverbs? See, being wise at work, it's

about getting that balance. But there's other

ways in which we need to be wise at work, and

here's another one. We need to promote a calm

workplace. We need to promote a calm workplace.

Very hard to do that if you're a workaholic.

So that's, again, why you need a bit of rest.

But how do we promote a calm workplace? Well,

here's some ideas from Proverbs. It's an honour

for a man to keep aloof from strife. But every

fool will be quarrelling. It's like fools are

there just looking for something to fight about.

Or a dishonest man spreads strife and a whisperer

separates close friends. They love to just, oh,

did you hear what they said? Just something to

cause another fight. Or look at these ones. Do

not make friends with a hot -tempered person.

Do not associate with one easily angered, or

you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.

or whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is

like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.

Don't you love that imagery? You know, there's

the dog walking past, I'm just going to yank

his ears. That sounds like something my kids

would do and they will get bitten. But being

wise at work means you don't do that. Again,

it's balance. You know, there is a time and a

place to call it out and to speak up and... But

you don't pick fights unnecessarily. You don't

lie. You don't engage in office gossip. You don't

get irate or associate with those who do, or

you don't meddle with things that aren't anything

to do with you. The wise are calm. They're regulated.

They pick their battles. The wise, they engage

in office gossip, but only in the positive office

gossip. Did you hear about the great job that

Fred did the other day? Wow, he was fantastic.

They don't do the other one. They do the positive

one. They are stable and straightforward. They're

a wonderful presence, even when the rest of the

workplace is chaos. When I was a relief teller

at Bendigo Bank, there were very few Christians

where I worked in Sydney. But there was one,

a wonderful Christian man who was another teller

at Homebush Branch. I think his name was Joss,

but he was amazing. It wasn't the easiest branch

to work in. The manager and the supervisor there

were constantly at war with one another, mainly

over how cold the air conditioning was. But ironically,

it got very heated over the temperature of the

air conditioning. But, you know, there was lots

of other things, a very cramped branch. There

was even a robbery. But Joss, he was positive

and upbeat. He didn't gossip. He didn't put others

down. You know, one of the supervisors, she was

always there telling me, oh, the manager, he's

been such a jerk this week, Brendan, you don't

even know. And she would just vent and vent and

vent. But not Joss. He just focused on his work.

He often diffused situations with humour, kindness

and tact. And when he was there, he was a great

place to work. When I was covering for him, it

was at best unpleasant. He really made a difference

to that workplace. What about you? When you turn

up to work and it's a disastrous place to be,

Everyone's panicking about everything, it's toxic,

everything's going wrong. It's easy to get caught

up and get swept into it, isn't it? It doesn't

matter whether it's a hospital, it doesn't matter

whether it's a classroom, it doesn't matter whether

it's parenting, it doesn't matter whether it's

ministry or a bank. If you aren't careful, you

can become like tissue paper in a cyclone, just

blown around by everything else that's going

on. You know what makes you like a ten -ton anchor

in those sort of environments? Seeing Jesus at

work. You're there and your boss is barking at

you and getting angry. Just look past him. Look

past him. It's Jesus. He's behind him. Actually,

he's on the throne. He's sitting there, he's

ruling over, you know, my boss is doing all that,

but I see the bigger picture. Jesus is in charge.

While he's barking away, look back. Oh yeah,

I'm forgiven, I'm loved. I'm, you know, I've

looked forward, okay, I've got a hope in Jesus

that's secure and eternal. Okay, it sucks, my

boss is barking at me, but yeah, I'm getting

some perspective here. I don't need to let it

hit me as hard as it might because I'm seeing

the bigger picture. See, seeing Jesus doing His

work, seeing what He's done for us on the cross,

seeing Him at work ruling over everything now,

it calms and stabilises us in our work so that

we bring our best self to work. Is that what

you do? Do you see Jesus when everything else

is chaotic. It's just like, you know, when Jesus

is out on the boat and the storm comes up. What

do the disciples, they see the storm. It's going

off. It's scary. What should they have done?

They should have seen Jesus raining over everything

as Lord of all. That's what we need to see when

it's stormy and chaotic at work. That's how we

be wise in our workplaces. But there's one other

way to be wise at work that I want to share with

you today. Here's our last one. Plan out your

work well. Plan out your work well. Have a look

at these proverbs. A wise man is full of strength

and a man of knowledge enhances his might. For

by wise guidance you can wage your war and in

abundance of counsellors there is victory. So

if you're wise you try and get big resources.

You get people alongside you who can help because

that's where the victory lies. Or the plans of

the diligent lead surely to abundance but everyone

who is hasty comes only to poverty. So whatever

work you do It goes so much better if you plan

and if you plan well. The wise general, that's

a type of work, isn't it? He's going to war,

he plans. He recruits troops, he upgrades weapons,

he strategises with his best commanders. They

work hard in planning, they take their time to

plan well because it will guarantee victory.

And it's the same with any job. You know, parents

need to talk with one another. Maybe they need

to talk with people, you know, older folk who've

raised kids before, or talk with their friends,

because in abundance of counsellors, there is

victory. You know, recruit more help. Maybe,

you know, talk to a psychologist, talk to whatever.

But it's about developing skills. It's about

getting the help you need. Doctors discuss a

tricky case, don't they? Yeah, what do you think?

Oh, I think he's got the chicken pox well, you

know, and they diagnose well before they treat

it. You know, if you fail to plan, you plan to

fail. It's important to plan well. And if you

plan well, you'll be strategic, you'll prioritise

well, you'll break things into right steps. Again,

that's part of wisdom. Have a look at these proverbs.

Prepare your work outside, get everything ready

for yourself in the field and after that build

your house. So why do you have to go out and

get your field ready? Because that's your source

of income. Get that sorted before you get your

comfy McMansion done. If not, you'll misjudge

and you won't have the money to pay for your

house. So get your source of income sorted. I

mean, that's great wisdom, isn't it? Or do you

see a man skillful in his work? He will stand

before kings. He will not stand before obscure

men. Now, what's implied here is to get to the

top, to get ahead, you've got to sharpen your

skills now. Plan well. Get good at the thing

you do. It's really fun watching my littlest

kids play with Lego or blocks or kinetics because

they do the opposite of this. There's no plan.

There's just do. They don't hear advice well.

You know, son, you should try it. No dad, I'm

doing it fine. Don't worry. It's all good. There's

no strategy. They don't recruit help. They just

do what feels right in the moment. And then they

get very frustrated that it doesn't work when

it all comes tumbling down or the Lego pieces

end up everywhere. Yeah, they get a bit older

and it starts to shift a little bit. They start

to plan and collaborate a bit more. And actually,

I see it a lot in Ethan, because he builds these

amazing Lego structures now, which is cool, and

one day he'll be on Lego Masters, and that'll

be good fun. But the point is that planning and

that cooperative strategising, it pays off, doesn't

it? Now, we all get this wrong. None of us plans

our work as we should. We're all like my littleies

at some times. You know, we don't get the counsel

we need. We underestimate things. We're reactive.

We misstep. We get the wrong priorities at times.

But we all know it's so much better when we plan

well, isn't it? Even when it doesn't guarantee

victory, it's so much better when we've planned

well. And the most unexpected things can happen

that derail even the best laid plans. And so

we want to keep reassessing, being flexible,

working it out. And it can be so frustrating

though, can't it? You plan well, you're at work,

you've planned some projects so well, you've

listened to everybody, and then out of the blue

it gets ruined by unexpected factors. I mean,

that can be just disheartening, can't it? What

do you do then? Well, part of planning well is

not just planning yourself, it's remembering

Proverbs 19, 21. Many are the plans in the mind

of a man, but is the purpose of the Lord that

will stand. See, I get it, it's disheartening,

it's frustrating when you plan well and it doesn't

work out, but what do we need to see? We need

to see Jesus at work. We need to see that he's

in control of all this. He's working out his

good plans and purposes. I mean, we see that

most clearly at the cross, don't we? See, at

the cross, it's the most horrible thing. For

the disciples, it came out of left field. But

it was God's plan for the salvation of the world.

It was the most wonderful thing that was happening,

even though the disciples couldn't see it. So

when we aren't wise, when we don't plan well,

or when we are and our plans just disintegrate

because of factors outside of our control, true

wisdom is seeing that things are still going

according to God's plan. That God's purposes

and plans will always stand. And when we see

that, it calms us so that we're loving, patient

and thoughtful even in the chaos. So plan well,

but trust God's plans as you do. See, whatever

job you do, the key to being wise at work is

one thing. I hope you've seen it today. Seeing

Jesus at work reshapes how you show up to work.

And if you do that, it will reshape you in a

variety of ways. We looked at three. You'll possess

a good work ethic. You know, you'll try and please

Jesus with a balanced life, not being a sluggard,

not being a workaholic, just being diligently

working for Jesus. It'll promote a calm workplace

because you'll see Jesus reigning, you'll see

what He's done for you. Your value won't be tied

to your work, it'll be tied to Jesus' work for

you. And you'll plan out your work well. Yeah,

you'll be diligent, you'll be thoughtful, you'll

be responsible, but... As well, you'll know that

your plans land within God's plans and that He's

in control of everything. And even when your

plans disintegrate, He's working out His good

plans and purposes. Now, what's all this mean

for us? Well, if you're here today and you're

not yet a Christian, I hope there are some useful

things about work that you've gleaned from today.

And if you read Proverbs, I'm sure there are

other good things you could glean too. But here's

the hard truth that I want to leave you with

if you're not yet a Christian. I don't know if

you've ever thought about it, but without Jesus,

your work is actually pointless. Your work is

pointless. Yes, go read Proverbs, but can I encourage

you to go read another great wisdom book in the

Bible that speaks into this, and that's the book

of Ecclesiastes. There you've got Solomon searching

for the meaning of life. He's got resources,

he's got wisdom, and his conclusion about all

of it, what's the meaning of life? He says, it's

all meaningless. Here's what he says regarding

work. Remember, this is Solomon. He's done a

lot. But he says, yet when I surveyed all that

my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless. A chasing after the

wind, nothing was gained under the sun. The reason

he says that is because we all die. And what's

the point of our work if we all die? It's pointless.

It just keeps us alive a bit longer. It just

makes our lives a bit comfier. But ultimately,

you know, it's like two people in a plane crash.

Your work might... help you, you know, be in

business class or economy class, but at the end

of the day, if the plane crashes, it doesn't

matter which one you're in, does it? It makes

no real difference to anything. So if you're

cluey at work, yes, life will be nicer and better,

but it will still be pointless. Unless Jesus

is your King. Because Jesus is saying to you

today, I can give you more to life than this

life. This life isn't all there is. I can give

you something with purpose, something meaningful.

I can give you hope that transcends death. Now

I don't know anyone else who can say that and

back it up like the Lord Jesus can. Because his

work was to die for our sins and rise again as

Lord of all. If you're feeling like your work

is pointless and you don't know Jesus, come have

a coffee with me. Come have a chat with me now.

And let's get together and see if Jesus' work

can give your life and your work hope and purpose.

But if you're here today and you are a Christian,

I hope you've seen how we ought to turn up differently

to our workplaces. Actually, Christians have

been doing that for thousands of years, even

as slaves. Have a look at this in Colossians

3. Slaves. So, you know, this is not your typical,

you know, workplace Australia, you've got like

rights and all that sort of stuff. This is not

that. Slaves obey your earthly masters in everything

and do it, not only when their eye is on you

and to curry their favour, but with sincerity

of heart and reverence for the Lord. In a hard

circumstance where your freedoms aren't great,

hey, turn up well. Turn up in a way that honours

Jesus. Whatever you do, work at it with all your

heart as working for the Lord, not for human

masters. Since you know you have the bigger picture,

you will receive an inheritance from the Lord

as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

What makes the difference in a hard workplace?

It's seeing the org chart. You know the org chart

with all the ranking and who's structured and

the hierarchy and that? Remember, see past your

boss. Okay, CEO, doesn't matter. There's another

CEO sitting at the top of the universe. That's

Christ himself. That's your true CEO. That's

who you serve when you go to work. No matter

how bad or how good your boss is, that's who

you serve. I serve Jesus in any workplace by

working well and by being a witness to Him. I

needn't worry or fear because ultimately He will

look after me both now and into eternity. I trust

Him. Now don't mishear me. There are injustices

and Christians need to stand up and speak about

that. There is Christian liberty. There are horrid

workplaces and we're not slaves. If you want

to leave, leave. If you want to stay, stay. Use

your wisdom to work out what's best and then

make a wise choice. Prayerfully, trusting God's

plans. But wherever you work, whatever you do,

Your circumstances don't have to dictate how

you turn up. Money, validation, a supportive

employer, even coffee, they may shape how you

turn up. But seeing Jesus clearly, that will

make the greatest difference to how you turn

up to work. Is Jesus shaping how you turn up

to work? Will he shape how you turn up to work

tomorrow? Let me finish with this. It's Monday

morning. You're sitting in traffic on the Captain

Cook Highway. Your mind wanders back to last

week. Friday, the boss was angry. One of your

co -workers stabs you in the back. There's a

bunch of deadlines due. This wave of dread washes

over you. Don't just push through. Don't turn

up to work and be passive aggressive. Don't turn

up to work and just be straight aggressive. Do

something different. See that Jesus saved you

by his work. That he died for your sins on the

cross that in God's sight you were holy and righteous

and blameless because of what Jesus has done

See that because of that you have a hope that

eternity is yours See that Jesus is reigning

over everything now that he's in charge See that

Not the only thing that's all to life is work

see that there's more to life More to life than

work, more to life than this life, even. See

those things and then thank Jesus for them as

you're driving to work. You know, I better keep

my eyes open as I'm thanking and praying. You

know, I'm driving the car, but thank and pray

to him. Maybe recall some verses in your mind.

Oh, what did Jesus say in Romans 12? I live peaceably

with all, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says

the Lord. Okay, so it's not my job to get back

at my boss and my cowork. You know, if your enemy

is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him

something to drink. Okay, cool, don't be overcome

by evil, but overcome evil with good. Yeah, okay,

I remember those ones. Oh yeah, Titus too. I'm

there to adorn the doctrine of God our saviour.

That's a pretty amazing privilege I get to do

in my workplace. So pray about those things as

you drive to work. And by the time you get there,

you'll be in such a different headspace, won't

you? Do those things, and it will change how

you turn up to work. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,

in our complex and fallen world, it can be so

hard turning up to work well. But help us to

see Jesus work for us. Help us to see Jesus at

work now, reigning over everything. Help us to

see Jesus that we might turn up to work differently,

no matter how good or how tough our workplaces

may be. Help us to stand out as different people

because we know your love, your power, and your

truth. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.