Genesis 3: Work After the Fall

Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"

The question that is so often at the heart of work gone wrong is: can I really trust God?

Genesis 3:6–7

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Genesis 3:16–19

To the woman he said, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

itstsabon — sorrow, anguish, grief, painful, exhausting labor.

1 Work Can Be Painful

Genesis 3:17

Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

Work now has the potential for failure.

2 Work Now Fights Back

Genesis 3:18

Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

Thorns and thistles:

• Choke out life
• Resist growth
• Make cultivation harder

Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.

Before sin, work produced joy — but now work produces sweat.

3 Work Can Also Be Depressing

Genesis 3:19

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.

Even when human beings accomplish incredible things, thorns still show up alongside the fruit. Eventually, we return to dust.

And all of this does something to us.

Genesis 3:7

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Genesis 3:8–13

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

"I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

So what do Adam and Eve do? They hid, and they started trying to cover themselves.

We spend our lives trying to cover spiritual problems with human effort.

Underwork

Underworking isn't just being lazy; it's never trying anything difficult — because if you never really try, then you never really fail. Underworking also blames.

Overwork

Some people don't hide from work — they hide in work.

The Good News

Jesus didn't just come to forgive your sins — He came to restore everything.

Colossians 1:20

To reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Jesus came so that everything that got broken in the fall could be restored — including your work.

1 John 3:8

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and through His work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus made a way for the soil of our souls to live again.

Jesus literally wore the thorns.

John 19:1–2

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.

Jesus, through the cross, absorbed into Himself the pain, futility, frustration, and brokenness that has marked human labor ever since Eden.

By taking thorns onto His head, Jesus was saying: "I'm redeeming all of it."

Isaiah 65:21–22

They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Jesus Christ came to begin that restoration now.

Now work is no longer a treadmill — it's a trail. It's heading somewhere. It has direction and purpose. It's shaping you, and it's shaping the world around you.

The story of the Bible is not: "How do we escape earth?" It's: "How do I partner with God in the renewal of all things?"

Our work is not just a paycheck; it's not just a placeholder until heaven. Your work can become one of the places where the Kingdom of God breaks into the world.