The Christian’s Relationship To Work

by DSB

One of our goals as followers of Jesus Christ is to submit to the will and rule of Christ so that we live like Christ as we serve Christ.

One would think that the statement just made would be common knowledge among all Christians, and the common practice of so many Christians it would be as if it were practiced by all. Yet it seems to be neither common knowledge nor the common practice.

I can think of at least two reasons for this. First, though submitting to the will and rule of Christ is easy where his will and rule are clearly stated and easily understood, some of what Christ says is not so clear. The unclear things require thoughtful and prayerful consideration to be understood and godly wisdom to know how to apply them in practical ways to daily living. Second, though living like Christ is easy where we are not tempted to live otherwise, all of us face areas of life where we either like sin’s way so much we don’t want to live like Christ or the temptation is so strong we find it hard to live like Christ. For at least these two reasons it seems uncommon in the Christian community to find Christians living each day like Christ in service to Christ.

Over the years, serious minded Christians have sought to deal with these two problems in an effort to further remove the disparity between what we should be and what we are. In dealing with the less clear teachings of Jesus, Christians have depended on the broader knowledge of who Jesus is and what he requires to build beliefs, principles and values for deciding how to apply these less-clear truths to daily life. Though this is a wise method that has worked well in many situations, it has two weaknesses. First, it requires serious thinking, praying, and discussions with other Christians - something too many of us are not inclined to do given the time and energy required to do so. Second, it is hard to be certain we’ve drawn the right conclusions - which opens the door to wrong conclusions and leads to some Christians being led astray. The prospect of having to think too deeply and too long along with the fear of going astray seems to put a damper on our desire to do the hard work of sorting through the difficult and less-clear teachings of scripture in order to figure out how to apply them in very practical ways to our lives. Therefore, too many of us fall short of figuring out how to live according to the will and rule of Christ in some very important yet common, everyday issues of life.

One of the areas of Christian living that seems to fall into this category is employment.

Without any question, the scripture seems to be less-clear or even silent on many issues related to employment and work as we experience it in America. For example, there are no specific prohibitions in scripture against bar-tending, topless dancing, or dealing cards at the poker table for the local casino. Yet most Christians would agree all three occupations are outside the boundaries of a Christ-like life. And how do we come to such a conclusion without clear teaching on each occupation? We apply the Christian beliefs, principles, and values we hold dear and make our decision accordingly.

You may be thinking this is getting a bit silly. After all, everyone knows it is wrong to promote excessive drinking like that which is done in most bars. Everyone knows it is wrong for a lady to undress in public. Everyone knows how families suffer when one of the parents gambles away money needed for bills and food. But does everyone know this? No! Look how many people participate in these things - including some who attend church. The truth is, only those who have a value system or set of beliefs that determine such things to be wrong agree that these three occupations are wrong.

And this brings me to my point. If we can draw on Christian beliefs, values, and principles to make decisions about employment opportunities that seem this obvious, couldn’t we look further into our Christian beliefs, values, and principles to make decisions about less obvious occupations? To me the answer is a strong yes.

Admittedly it will take more work, discussion, and time than we have put in up until now. We will have to examine most of the culturally accepted employment opportunities in which Christians currently participate to see if they fit Christian beliefs, values and principles. We will have to examine the mundane, day-to-day decisions related to employment along with the bigger, seemingly more life-affecting decisions because most of life is lived day-to-day. We will need to count the cost, because we gain many benefits from the culturally accepted employment opportunities that we would lose should we discover these opportunities no longer fit into our Christian beliefs, values and principles. And we may make mistakes along the way as we try to sort this all out. But it seems to me that we are better off erring on the side of godliness than on any other side available.

In addition to these considerations there is one more that seems wise to consider. There is a spiritual danger in concentrating on the grossest of sins and the noblest deeds as if avoiding the one and holding on to the other fulfills God’s intentions for us as Christians. Such a focus leads to three failures. First, most of us are not tempted by the grossest sins, so avoiding them is easy. Seeing how emphatically we say no to the grossest sins feeds a sense of contentment in our growth toward godliness, and we stop there. But in stopping there we overlook our participation in the common, every day sins - sins which when repeated year-after-year do as much harm as the grossest sins. Second, we see what we ought to be in light of the noblest deeds yet realize we aren’t likely to attain that stature of Christian living. So we settle into a christianized version of the culturally normal life. The problem with this is that we compromise many Christian beliefs, values, and principles to live this way. Finally, in overlooking our participation in everyday sins and in living a christianized version of the culturally normal life we end up being mediocre Christians who live so much like the average sinner it is hard to tell us and them apart. In fact, most of us have to tell our neighbors and co-workers we are Christians because otherwise they wouldn’t know.

What all this means is that concentrating on the grossest of sins and the noblest deeds is counter productive to living a meaningfully godly life. Why? Because we don’t live there. We live somewhere between those two extremes. In fact, the list of sins and godly behaviors that falls between the worst of sin and the best of Christianity is where most of us live most of the time. This is true in relation to work and employment - so keep your focus here in working out this issue.

With this in mind, answer this question: "Why do you do the work you do?" (If you are currently unemployed or work at home, consider why you took the jobs you had outside the home.) This is an important question because the job we have and the way we work says a lot about our attitude toward submitting to the will and rule of Christ so that we live like Christ as we serve Christ. This is especially true in the United States.

We are not an impoverished nation where desperation drives our employment decisions. We have many options for both employment and the style of life we wish to live. Now you may be thinking this discussion was about employment - so why mention lifestyle? In a nation such as the U.S., our assumed or chosen lifestyle most often drives our employment decisions.

Is it not true that most of us pursue the kind of employment that enables our lifestyle choices? The fact is, we can only live our assumed or chosen lifestyle if we have the money to do so - and for most of us the money comes from our employment. This means that our choice of lifestyle becomes a significant force in deciding our choice of employment. Therefore, if we Christians assume or choose a lifestyle that fits into the common lifestyle of our culture we will likely pursue employment that is justifiable on the basis of our culture’s beliefs, values, and principles. Take a few minutes to think about this before moving on.

The problem with assuming or choosing the common lifestyle of our American culture is that it leads us away from our Christian beliefs, values, and principles in two specific ways. First, assuming or choosing their lifestyle motivates us to follow their beliefs, values and principles related to employment because that is the best way to fulfill their lifestyle expectations. This means both our lifestyle and employment practices are primarily influenced by the prevailing beliefs, values, and principles of our culture. This is good if the culturally prevailing beliefs, values, and principles are according to the will and rule of Christ. If they aren’t, we are seriously off course as Christians. Second, when we choose or assume a style of life and form of employment that fits the cultural norm we end up mimicking our culture. Here again, this is good if our culture reflects the nature of Christ. But it doesn’t. This means we are mimicking the wrong thing. Indeed, we are not to be conformed to the world. We are to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.

Therefore, when observing American Christians the world should see Christ, first and foremost, not the American culture. If the non-Christians around us see the American culture in us, first and foremost, we will have to tell them we are Christians in order for them to know.

By now you may be feeling like this is more than you wanted to think about concerning the Christian’s relationship to work. Don’t despair. Press on, because this is not an easy, one answer fits all topic. To further your thinking, give careful consideration to the following questions.

1. Is it possible that for the average American Christian employment has more to do with making money and fulfilling lifestyle related desires and felt-needs than with living according to the will and rule of Christ?

2. Is it possible that your employment beliefs, values, and principles are so insignificantly different from those of your culture that it is as if you have adopted their beliefs, values, and principles as your own?

3. Is it possible our culture’s beliefs, values, and principles related to employment have more to do with serving the god of this world than the Lord God?

4. Is it possible that our view and approach to employment measures our spiritual depth just like our view and approach to issues like prayer, worship, morality, and evangelism?

In considering these four questions you may be tempted to derail this discussion by getting bogged down in specifics. Don’t do it. The purpose here is to look for those beliefs, values, and principles that come from God and honor God in relation to work. If we can come to terms with these, we can apply them to the specifics of our lives. Push for the specifics too soon and the discussion is over. Why? We are first of all Americans, then Christians. Like it or not, our understanding of God and the scriptures are influenced by our culture. Without a strong sense of Christian beliefs, values, and principles we are prone to decide the specifics of our lives more in favor of our culture than Christ. To work against the influence of your culture you must build and strengthen all the Christian beliefs, values, and principles you can. Then you can wisely decide the specific of how to live.

As Christians, we believe in living for God and seeking the good of others. These are top priorities. Yet in the American work world the top priority is profit. Such a priority opens the door to the evils of greed, abuse of power, using people for one’s own ends, deception, convincing buyers to purchase what they don’t need or can’t afford, and selling products or services that cause harm.

Admittedly, not all work or every business opens each of these doors - which means this is not a blanket condemnation of all work or every business. This is not an attack on you. It is an invitation to think. Therefore, don’t get derailed by falling into the trap of all-or-nothing thinking in an effort to defend your current employment.

To aid your thinking, consider the contrast between following Christ and following the world in relation to work.

Begin by contrasting greed with sharing. Think about what each looks like in your place of work. Let’s say your job allows or even invites you to be involved in greed while sharing becomes something frowned on by those over you. What then? What Christian beliefs, values, and principles support sharing over greed? What if you were to apply these Christian beliefs, values and principles to this kind of work situation? What would that look like? What would it mean in terms of job security or promotions or wage increases? Would you be willing to sacrifice those things if that is what was required to be consistent with your Christian beliefs, values, and principles?

But there is more. Let’s say that replacing greed with sharing leads to losing your job and you are unable to get another job with equal pay and benefits. Would you be willing to sacrifice your current lifestyle to remain consistent with your Christian beliefs, values, and principles? How tempted would you be in this situation to keep all sides happy by resisting greed and avoiding sharing? Would this be a godly solution to a difficult problem?

Whoa! This is getting to be a bit much - or at least you might be thinking that right now. Okay, take a breather, walk around, and come back to this later. Just don’t give up on thinking and praying this through too quickly. There is more at stake than time, energy and feeling secure in your current view of Christianity and work.

Moving on, consider the contrast between abusing power and using power to raise up and empower those who are weaker. And what about the contrast between using people for your own ends or even the company’s goals and serving people for their good? Then there is the contrast between deception and honesty in the business world. How do deception and honesty play out in your work place? What is expected of you in relation to deception or honesty? And we can go on and on.

And what about this? Work ought not to be a distraction from God or a time-out from living like Christ as we serve Christ. For us Christians, work ought to make us more sensitive to the presence of God and provide more ways we are able to live like Christ in our service to Christ. If our work distracts us from God or becomes a time-out from living like Christ than it is likely we have yet to make good sense of the Christians relationship to work.

In addition, work ought to be a place where we can be salt and light on behalf of Jesus Christ. Open evangelism my not be tolerated or even appropriate in you place of work given that taking time to talk about such things gets in the way of doing the job we were hired to do. But being salt and light is completely different from open evangelism. Salt is both a seasoning and a healing agent. You can be this anywhere, anytime, on any job. Light is something which exposes the darkness and shows those in darkness which way to go. You can be this anywhere, anytime, on any job. Therefore, do you see your job as a place to purposefully be salt and light for the sake of Christ? What kind of choices and behavior would be required to more purposefully be salt and light in your place of employment? Should being salt and light take precedence over earning a living? Can it? Does it?

All of this is not intended to discourage us from work or to get us to think that all employment is unworthy of a Christian. The goal here is to call us to look at work from a Christian perspective - whatever that may be. To see work in this way we must look at it through Christian beliefs, values, and principles.

Search the scriptures. Pray to God. Talk to other Christians. Examine what drives your lifestyle and employment decisions. Consider what ought to drive your lifestyle and employment decisions. List the beliefs, values, and principles you currently use in relation to your employment. Can you add to this list? May we all come to the place where we are driven by those beliefs, values, and principles which reflect our submission to the will and rule of Christ so that we are living like Christ in our service to Christ.

 

Copyright © DSB   All rights reserved.
Revised 2010