Today we’re looking at the 4th characteristic that makes business “Christian.” Below are the links for the previous characteristics that I posted.
Christian work is:
– 1. Creation-Fulfilling
– 2. Excellence-Pursuing
– 3. Holiness-Reflecting
4. Todays topic – Redemption-Displaying:
If Christians were to act in their jobs with equity and fairness, that alone would set them apart. But those who have been touched by the gospel do not merely attempt to hold to high ethical standards: They live lives with a radically altered perspective of gratitude. What Christ has done by redeeming us to the Father produces a natural response of grace towards others.
A great example of this is a story I recently heard about a Madison Avenue advertising executive. A young woman working as an intern for this executive made a mistake that cost the company $25,000. Madison Avenue is a world defined by grace, so she knew she had ruined her one chance at making it in the advertising world. But this executive went before his board of directors, convincing them to allow the blame for her mistake to fall on him instead. When this young woman heard what he had done, she came to him crying. In tears, she asked him why in an atmosphere as cutthroat as that of Madison Avenue advertising, he would choose to cut his own throat for her. He answered by sharing how 15 years earlier, Jesus had done the same thing for him, stepping in the way of the wrath that he deserved. Because of the great grace that Jesus had shown him, his heart went out to her.
When we work to display redemption, we no longer angle for position, shrewdly networking so that every relationship we have and every activity of our day serves our bottom line. In fact, Christ’s grace changes our desires so that we seek new bottom lines. If truly touched by grace, Christians in business begin to leverage their resources to bless those in need. If truly touched by grace, Christians in business consider ways to use their work in taking the gospel to places where it is not known.
Many Christians will object to a perspective like this. “I worked for what I have—I earned it” they might say. Or perhaps, “I just don’t feel like that’s my call.” Both objections reveal a heart that knows little of grace or of obedience. A person may certainly feel like she has earned everything that she has, but where did she get her tough-minded work ethic? Her intelligence? These were the grace of God. By whose decree did she grow up in the United States instead of in a Brazilian favela? Certainly not by her own—this also was the grace of God. The very air she breathed and food she ate were provided to her as gifts of grace.
A person who hides behind the language of “calling” reveals a similar ignorance, one of obedience. He protests that giving away his money or using his skills for missions is simply not God’s will for his life. He argues that such sacrifice, so very commendable, is certainly the call for a more mature Christian than himself. “Perhaps one day,” he muses, “but not today.” He forgets, of course, that the call to leverage every aspect of his life for God’s purposes is not an advanced lesson for an elite Christian force—it is the call to follow Jesus.
