Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. An ex-user recently asked, is it ethical for me to charge 15% more for my rich clients? That kind of opportunism is not surprising or unusual for non-believers. Christian business owners should constantly be taking stock in how they operate, following the example that's set by the author of Hebrews, who asked for prayer for, and I quote, a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things.
In a chapter published years ago that was entitled Why Johnny Can't Produce Christian Scholarship, theologian John Stackhouse said that Christian scholars have to work, quote, more than twice as hard because, after all, they have to be Christian, they have to be scholars, and then they have to be Christian scholars. The same framing would apply to Christians in business. Christians must always be first and foremost Christian. Christians in business, just as in any other vocation, should be competent and excellent in their craft. And also, they have to work hard at grounding the idea of business and the practice of business in Christian assumptions about work, about people, about profit, about culture, about ethics, and other things.
And so, though a Christian business must involve more than just merely being moral and ethical, it certainly does not require less.
Now, the biblical book of Proverbs offers a time-tested, God-breathed roadmap to living ethically, including speaking specifically about business practices. Chief among the qualities of wisdom, of course, are honesty and fair dealing. Proverbs 9 says it's better to be poor with integrity than to be a crooked fool. Proverbs 16 says it's better to live righteously with a little than to earn great revenues through injustice. It also says that a just balance and scales are the Lord's.
All the weights in the bag are his work. End quote. And the scripture offers a sober, comforting reminder that God is Lord over heaven and earth, and that any work we have is a gift. of His. He's the provider.
He is just. If we orient the posture of our work around these truths, we can rest assured in His goodness and care. Thus we need not grovel on the one end of the unemployment stream, or steal for our portion on the other. Squeezing more money from a client who will not care or notice or suffer from it is obviously something considered good for business, unless, that is, our work is seen by someone to whom we are both responsible and accountable. The Christian position is, of course, there is one by whom we are seen, from whose presence we are never able to escape.
And thus we are to model good works in all respects, as the Apostle Paul said to Titus. We must not wrong another in a sale or bring lazy hands to our work or fail to use our God-given skills or fall into sin by a shady business partnership. all those things are reflected in Holy Scripture, and that's because all life is lived, as John Calvin said, corumdeo, or before the face of God. Scripture also commands us to be like God. He's loving, so we should be loving.
Christ came to serve, even as the Lord of heaven and earth, and so we should serve. To be set apart from the world in this way is the privilege of emulating Christ. And that's why we can count it all joy.
Now, Christians often struggle to see their work as being eternally significant in the same way as volunteering or quote unquote doing ministry. Work is often viewed as something that adults have to do and the relationship between employees and the employer as a merely transactional one. But our work in this world is not of this world. God gave work to Adam and Eve, even in paradise, and portions of Isaiah, 2 Timothy, Revelation, and elsewhere all suggest that we'll also work in the new heavens and new earth, enjoying the labor of our hands and the presence of God. And so, our work here can also be a reflection of that, a foretaste of that, a means to glorify God.
In his book, How Then Should We Work, Hugh Welchel framed the workplace as being the precise arena to re-weave shalom into a broken world.
Now it's always tempting and easier and maybe simply standard business practice to justify the kind of gray area opportunism that's so common. But if Christ is Lord over everything, then our work should reflect the kingdom of God and reflect its beckoning to us to humbly repent, to be born again, and to live in righteousness, peace, and joy. In our work, as in everything else, the kingdom of God always looks different than the world. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. A special thanks today to Ira and Alice of Colton, California.
Thank you for being a Cornerstone Monthly partner of the Colson Center. You helped to make this episode of Breakpoint possible. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Haley Wilson. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download podcasts. And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org.
Hi, we are Jack and Martha from Santa Cruz, California. We're Cornerstone Partners because we appreciate the ministry tackling head-on the most pressing faith issues of the day, from abortion to immigration to the role of the church in today's culture. The information presented is always biblically based and intellectually sound. If you would like to join us and over a thousand others in becoming a Cornerstone monthly partner, visit colsoncenter.org slash monthly.
