Christians in Business. – Part 2 – What is Work?
Friday, February 5th, 2010REVIEW SO FAR
In the first part of this series on "The Christian in Business", I raised the issue that so many of us are confronted with from time to time – the pressure to conform to the ways of the business world – and often at the expense of personal integrity.
Warren Wiersbe observes: "A person with integrity is not divided (that’s duplicity) or merely pretending (that’s hypocrisy). He or she is ‘whole’; life is ‘put together’ and things are working together harmoniously. People with integrity have nothing to hide or fear. Their lives are open books."
Unfortunately, even Christians sometimes ‘cook’ these ‘books’!
Lee Strobel says that "If we want to survive the rat race without becoming rats, we need confidants who love us enough to tell us the truth. Equally important, we need to have a teachable spirit that keeps us open to doing the right thing – even when the wrong thing seems so attractive."
In a way, I’m hoping to be one of those confidants; hoping that Christians who read this may be challenged whenever they are faced with having to make a dubious business decision. As I write it, I’m also conscious of the fact that I’m a Christian in business – and these words are therefore timely reminders for me too.
THE WORK ETHIC
Business involves work – I’m sure we all realise that. Some business involves a huge amount of work – and sometimes for very little reward. Annoyingly, other business seems to generate huge returns for little effort. (I sometimes think I belong to the first group most of the time!) Work is a key, really, to success in business.
King Solomon (who probably didn’t work very hard and was one of the richest men who ever lived!) penned these words:
"A lazy person will end up poor, but a hard worker will become rich." (Proverbs 10:4),
There is a growing tendency throughout the world today to alienate work from our daily agendas. The exponential growth of the burgeoning leisure industry is evidence of this. Organised labour groups in many of the more affluent nations are constantly lobbying for shorter working weeks, but with the same benefits. (Naturally!) Technological development has also made it possible for us to accomplish more in less time. Surprisingly though, this same technological development has created a whole lot of new work for most of us – and we don’t even realise it most of the time! Just think about it – we now have a great deal more information to sift through – every day; it’s getting worse – and most of it is junk as well!
At the same time, there are vast numbers of people in the developing world who are unemployed, poor – but also not working. There is a distinct difference between being unemployed and not working. This is a very important consideration, especially for Christians.
The prevailing attitude is this: as long as you pitch up for work, you have a right to be paid, whether you actually do any work or not. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that employees work; not their responsibility to do it! It is part of a ever-growing culture of entitlement, – universal, but very prevalent in our country. Sadly too, unless there is a promise of reward, no work will even be considered.
As employers of people, business owners throw up their hands in frustration at what we know as the poor work ethic which prevails. Very often, though, those same business owners have very short arms and very deep pockets when it comes to adequately rewarding those who work for them.
Many Christians today have a wrong understanding of what the word "work" actually means. When God created the heavens and the earth there was a very clear order to it. As Christians, we believe in this stuff. We know, for instance, that God made man for fellowship and to care for all that had been created – to tend, to steward – to work! The bible confirms this with:
"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." (Genesis 2:15)
In fact, God began the whole work ethic himself by creating the heavens and the earth and everything else, and the Bible says,
"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing, so he rested from all his work." (Genesis 2:2).
Clearly then, as Christians, we can say that if it was good enough for God, it’s good enough for us! The concept of work is a good one.
Work – in its God-created sense is not onerous; it isn’t hard labour. That came after the fall from grace. Man’s disobedience resulted in the fall of the whole of creation, and work became toil – Man needed to do it to survive, to feed himself. This was God’s decree at the time:
"Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life." (Genesis 3:17).
So, a thorough reading of those first two chapters of Genesis reveal the following inherent principles about work:
- Work is honourable
- Work is good
- Work gives satisfaction
- Work should also involve rest
- Work should produce results.
In contrast to the modern world system, the scriptures don’t force a divide between the sacred and the secular – that was something that came out of certain church traditions. Consequently, as Christians, we believe that all work is a ministry to God and our fellow human beings. If I had to ask all the Christians I know whether they believed that they would say ‘yes!’ They would say ‘yes!’ because they know the words are in the bible and because they have heard them said before; but do they really believe them; enough to flesh them out in every respect?
As Christians, integrity means that there should be a clear link between our character and our creed, between our beliefs and our behaviour.
As Christians in business therefore, we need to have a right attitude to work. "Unless the job means more than the pay, it will never pay more." (H Bertram Lewis.) It all comes to our own heart attitudes, doesn’t it? As Christian employees, we are to have the right attitude, regardless of who we work for. Yet as Christian employers, regardless of who is working for us, we are to ensure that our employees are treated fairly, paid well and not only regarded in terms of what they do, but who they are. There’s the rub!
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he addressed the need for people to work. These words might have been written some 2000 years ago, but they’re still relevant – probably even more so in our generation!
"Those who are stealing must stop stealing and start working. They should earn an honest living for themselves….." (Ephesians 4:28).
He goes on with,
"In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people." (Colossians 3:22-23) .
In the book of Proverbs, the so-called ‘wisdom’ book, there is much said about this aspect of daily life:
"A person who doesn’t work hard is just like someone who destroys things." (Proverbs 18:9),
"Those who gather crops on time are wise, but those who sleep through the harvest are a disgrace." (Proverbs 10:5).
Finally, in this regard, Paul has a stern word for idlers in his letter to the Thessalonians, and even commands Christians to avoid them,
"Stay away from any believer who refuses to work and does not follow the teaching we gave you. You yourself know that you should live as we live. We were not lazy when we were with you. And when we ate another person’s food, we always paid for it. We worked very hard night and day so we would not be an expense to any of you. We had the right to ask you to help us, but we worked to take care of ourselves so we would be an example for you to follow. When we were with you we gave you this rule, "Anyone who refuses to work should not eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:6-10)
It is important that we understand this aspect of God’s kingdom rule. It shouldn’t even matter whether we’re paid for what we do!
Although most of the Western world has become materialistic and self-centered, the main reason why it is the wealthiest and most prosperous part of the world today is because of the work ethic of the early pioneers. The current generation is simply reaping the benefits of the hard work done by their forbears. Dr Ron Jensen, in his book, "Make a Life, not just a living" has to say:
"According to writer Arthur Burns, America was founded on the shoulders of enterprising Jewish, Scottish, Protestant, and Italian Catholic immigrants, all of who believed "their work mattered to God." They saw their lives as much more than simply being busy and bringing home a paycheck. In fact, work was a fundamental dimension of their very existence. Work to these individuals was a moral imperative that was the key to the "ethic" in work ethic. These people saw their work as a gift to God and their task as ultimately working for God. Moreover, they saw significant social implications to their work. As reformation leader Martin Luther said, "Man does not live for himself alone. But he lives also for all men on earth." In this vein, Luther’s contemporary in the reformation, John Calvin, encouraged workers to produce more than they needed so they could meet the needs of others. (emphasis – mine.)
In the next newsletter, I will pose the question: "is the work ethic still relevant today?"
