Worldview Matters

I Would Be A Muslim

2012-01-27T04:00:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month I was in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, in West Africa, teaching teachers at Dakar Academy, a remarkable school with a dedicated staff and extraordinary students, living under harsh desert conditions. The school was started fifty years ago to provide Christian education for children of missionaries. Today, other expatriates in Dakar send their children to Dakar Academy also, including the US Ambassador to Senegal.

Dakar reminded me that if Jesus had never been born, I would be a Muslim, most likely. And probably you would be too.

Why do I say this? Because shortly after the death of Mohammad in 632 A.D., Muslim forces spread Islam westward from Saudi Arabia across North and West Africa (which explains why Senegal is about 90% Muslim today), and later set their sights on Europe. I say Muslim "forces," because if the "infidels" did not convert, they could find their heads being detached from their bodies.

The European expansion of Islam was stopped at the gates of Vienna by Jan Sobieski, King of Poland, who answered the call of Pope Innocent XI to save the city and the rest of Central Europe. Sobieski arrived with an army of 40,000 Poles, Germans and Austrians on the evening of September 11, 1683. Many think Osama Bin Laden's choice of September 11 for his attack on the United States was no coincidence. He was sending a message to us and to the West: "We're baaaaAAAAAAAaack!"

If Islamic forces had not been repelled at the Battle of Vienna, in response to the Pope's call [and funding], my great-great-great-great grandparents in Germany would most likely have been Muslim [had they lived]. If Christ had not been born, not only would Joy To The World have never been written, and Bach would have had a different profession, and Johnny Cash would not have recorded Hurt, I dare say all of Europe, perhaps the entire Western Hemisphere, would be taking Fridays off today, rather than Sundays. Think what this would mean for you, your family and for history.

While in Dakar, I was also reminded of how one dedicated follower of Christ changed the course of history through a different kind of force: courageous Christian love. I was reminded of the work of William Wilberforce, member of British Parliament, some 200 years ago. What connection did I make with Wilberforce in Dakar?

Next: The Door of No Return.

I Could Feel Papa Bach Looking Over My Shoulder

2012-01-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

While taking music theory classes as an undergraduate student at the University of Washington in the late '60's, I was repeatedly struck by the prominent place given to Johann Sebastian Bach. When it comes to the musical "rules of the road" for composition, such as voicing and chord progression, the way J.S. Bach did it was just plain right. Not because he declared it to be so, but because it just plain was. Through his work, Bach provided the gold standard for musical composition, blazing a trail and setting the course for all Western music to follow. I could feel Papa Bach looking over my shoulder at each exam.

Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier" solidified the major-minor system we take for granted in Western music. He created the "well-tempered scale," which allowed musicians to begin a scale from any note on a keyboard, which was not possible before Bach. His development of the musical form called the "fugue" provided a foundation for all classical music. Some 200 years after Bach, when the French Impressionist composer Maurice Ravel complained that Debussy was stealing his musical ideas, Debussy replied, "Bach has said all there is to say in music. The rest of us only say it in different forms.”

Bach (born the same year as George Fredric Handel, in 1685), is a prime example of what it means to do one's work "wholeheartely unto the Lord," as the Bible puts it in Colossians 3:23. Bach consciously and intentionally wrote all his music to the glory of Jesus Christ, and literally left this message on the musical pages he penned. Historians can't miss it. That's because Bach left letters such as "S.D.G." and "J.J." throughout his manuscripts. S.D.G. was shorthand for Soli Deo Gloria, Latin for "Solely to the glory of God," and J.J. was an abbreviation for Jesu Juban, which means "Help me, Jesus." Bach dedicated many of his compositions "I.N.J.," which means In Nomine Jesu, "In the name of Jesus."

Why did the West produce Bach, and not the East, or Africa, or the Aztecs? It's because Bach viewed his work through the incomparable grid of a biblical worldview, and approached his work as an outworking of that unique belief system. A belief system that saw the world in ways only possible through the Bible, and the life and resurrection of Christ.

Worldview matters.

S.D.G.

J.J.

You Can Thank A Christian Monk

2012-01-13T04:15:00.000-08:00

One can tell a lot about a worldview by the kind of music it produces.

The Buddhist worldview, for example, sees life as a cycle of suffering. This suffering is caused by desire. Salvation, for the serious-minded Buddhist, is escape from the cycle of suffering through the extinction of desire, and detachment from this world. A song like Joy To The World is not something you would hear in a Buddhist temple. Life is not something to sing about. There is no God to thank and praise. Creation is not something to celebrate. The closest thing to music developed by Buddhist monks, historically, would be a single-note drone. It helps. [Some Buddhists now incorporate Western-style music into their practice, but this is a relatively recent phenomenon, introduced by Westerners converting to Buddhism.]

If you visit any Muslim mosque, you will not see an organ or piano. No orchestra will be heard. Not even an acoustic guitar. Most devout followers of Mohammad believe music is heram, which means "illegitimate." Some make an exception for certain sacred “songs,” which sound more like non-melodic chants. [Again, many Westernized Muslims are not as strict, but historically, Islam is neither a melody nor harmony-producing worldview.]

We take melody and harmony for granted. But Western music did not spring from a vacuum. Nor was it a chance happening. It came out of a worldview that saw music as a means of praise for an Almighty God who dresses flowers with colors a King's robe cannot match, and relates to humans in mindful and loving ways. It's a worldview that employs music as a celebration of joy and hope.

Western music came out of Christian worship that birthed new melodies—and harmony. Single-voice melody called “Plainsong” [notably Gregorian Chant] is believed to have originated in the 3^rd century by followers of Christ in worship. In the 9^th century, Plainsong developed two-voice melody, and eventually polyphony [multi-voice music] emerged. From this, in due course, came J.S. Bach and the musical tradition we call “Western music.” [That is, the music of “Western civilization.” Yes, it includes, but is not limited to, the music of Gene Autry and Johnny Cash.]

The next time you download that favorite song from i-Tunes, you can thank a Christian monk. Better yet, thank the living God, and think about what this world would be like if Christ had never been born--or resurrected.

Elvis Presley Could Not Have Recorded You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog

2012-01-06T07:20:00.001-08:00

Having just passed through December, you may have seen the Frank Capra film, It's A Wonderful Life. The 1946 classic has become a Christmas tradition, rivaling eggnog and mistletoe. In the story, an "ordinary" man named George Bailey runs an "ordinary" building and loan company in the "ordinary" town of Bedford Falls.

Life goes along in an "ordinary" way until the Bailey Building and Loan Company falls into serious financial straits, through no fault of George. He goes into a state of depression, and tries to take his own life--but fails. In despair, he says, "I wish I'd never been born."

An extraordinary angel grants his wish, and we all find out what Bedford Falls would have been like if George had never been born. We discover that through the choices of an "ordinary" man who repeatedly put others above his own dreams and desires, the culture and history of an entire town was radically affected.

In the latest issue of The Journal, published by Summit Ministries, the lead article highlights a similar, yet far more profound, question: What if Jesus Had Never Been Born? The article references the book by the same title, by Jerry Newcombe and D. James Kennedy.

The answer to that question has all the elements of a great film. Christmas would never be, Handel's Messiah would not have been written, the video I mentioned last week would not have been done by the 5th graders of Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat school, and It's A Wonderful Life itself would never have been filmed, because it was built around a simple Christmas card message that came to Frank Capra's attention. But this only scratches the surface.

What do we take for granted that would not be here apart from the life of Christ? What direction would Western history have gone? What would our world look like? Feel like? Sound like?

As a music major at the University of Washington, I took two years of music theory, along with a lot of music history. What I learned was, if Jesus had never been born, Western music would not have developed the way it did. Without the groundwork laid by Gregorian chanters (Christian monks) and Johann Sebastian Bach, Elvis Presley could not have recorded You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog.

I'll continue next week.

The Video Has Over 1,211,000 Hits

2011-12-30T04:00:00.001-08:00

It brought tears to my eyes. A computer project by the 5th grade class of a public school near the Bering Sea, in Southwest Alaska.

My sister-in-law sent me the link: a video rendition of the Hallelujah chorus of Handel's Messiah, done by the Yupiq Eskimo village of Quinhaquak, population 550. The project was done with the help of a creative schoolteacher, along with community members pitching in. As I write this post, the video has over 1,211,000 hits.

Watching this clip, I was struck afresh by the multicultural truth of the Hallelujah chorus, pertaining to all nations and peoples: The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. And He shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah!

His reign shall never cease. And it's omniplicable [a word I just created, meaning "applicable to all"]. No human authority has ever risen above it, nor ever shall. Even the royal authority of King George II, who stood to his feet at a London performance on March 23, 1743, was not above it.

Did I say March? Not December? That's right. Handel's Messiah was originally written as an Easter oratorio, not a Christmas work. Although Part One deals with the birth of Christ, the Hallelujah chorus concludes Part Two of the oratorio, which describes the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Yes, the Hallelujah chorus was written with Christ's resurrection in mind. King of Kings, ruling forever, and ever. Very much alive today.

What is remarkable about Handel's Messiah is that the entire score, taking nearly three hours to perform, took a mere 24 days to compose. I honestly don't think I could copy the score by hand in 24 days, let alone create it from scratch. Handel is said to have told a servant upon finishing the Hallelujah chorus, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself!”

I believe it. I think this may explain my misty eyes. Like Handel, as I watched the video I saw the living Lord, not a dead one. I saw the resurrected Christ, not just an historic figure born in Bethlehem. I saw the Kingdom of our Lord proclaimed afresh, 'mid snow, ice, Eskimos and bush planes.

Hallelujah!

See for yourself: http://youtu.be/LyviyF-N23A.

The Greatest Christmas Gift

2011-12-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

[This post first appeared December 25, 2009.]

One of my favorite carols is Joy To The World. The words are by Issac Watts, based on Psalm 98:

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth; make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth, with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

Some people say Joy To The World is not about the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. They say it is about His second coming, not His first. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World.)

The joy that is sung about, then, is a future joy that will occur when Christ returns, to “make the nations prove the glories of His righteousness,” in that full expression of His Kingdom-yet-to-come.

But for me, the song makes sense as a celebration of the first coming of Christ in Bethlehem.

While I’m looking forward to that full and perfect expression of Christ’s Kingdom-yet-to-come, I’m also celebrating the Kingdom-already-here! Jesus is Lord of all. Today! Not just in the future, but in this present moment (Acts 2:36; 10:36).

No, the Kingdom of God isn't fully recognized yet, or perfectly functional right now. This will happen when Christ comes the second time. But the domain over which Christ is King (that is, His King-domain) presently includes both Heaven and Earth!

This is the greatest Christmas gift: Christ the King has come “to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.” Right now.

Our Savior came to make His blessings to flow through carpenters, cops and CEOs who are reconciled to God, and reconciling all things to Him, including their work things! That's the idea behind Christ's coming in the first place. See II Cor. 5:17-20 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=II%20Cor.%205:17-20&version=NIV and Col. 1:17-20 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Col.%201:17-20&version=NIV.

So, no more let thorns infest the ground. By God's amazing grace, let's put our work gloves on, go to our workplaces after the Christmas holiday and pull up some bramble bushes--and plant some redwood trees.

Joy to the Earth! the Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy!

Merry Christmas.

Inextricably Joined

2011-12-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

My decision to accept Jesus as Lord at the age of eight turned out to be the most pivotal decision of my life. As it turns out, this decision to receive Christ as the Savior of my soul (which at the time was the main purpose for the decision), was the first step of an on-going journey.

It wasn't until years later that I realized this decision did not a disciple make. While there is nothing I could do to earn salvation (it was a gift I accepted), and I was happy to know I would not go to hell when I died, God had much more in mind.

I said last week that the Great Commission of Matthew 28 has "a fundamental connection with this present life." I said this because of the part about "...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."

While receiving Him as Savior is the starting point, the subsequent "observation of all things Christ commanded" is supposed to follow. Where is this "observation" supposed to take place? I suppose it is to take place on planet earth. I believe this is why Jesus concluded the Commission with the promise of His presence "until the end of the age," which is a very earthy endeavor.

The reason our organization, Worldview Matters, focuses on the application of Christian faith in the area of work, is because work fills the majority of our waking hours on this planet. Not just work for pay, but any expenditure of energy, mental or physical, for pay or not, that rightly manages God's stuff (this material world).

This involves driving trucks, building bridges, managing money, creating music, selling real estate—not to mention washing dishes and mowing the lawn. This is what The First ("Cultural") Commission entails−the Commission in Genesis 1, to rule [govern, steward, manage] over the entire realm of God's creation.

In this context of ruling over creation through our work, the "observation of all Christ commanded" can be fulfilled in truly significant ways. In the context of daily work the very goal of the Great Commission can be effectively accomplished.

This is why I believe The Great Commission of Matthew 28 and The First Commission of Genesis 1 are inextricably joined.

Colson Was Momentarily Speechless

2011-12-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, Chuck Colson related in his daily BreakPoint about speaking with a group of pastors regarding engagement of culture. "Afterward," Colson said, "the pastors had a lot of questions — but they were also a little confused. One confessed, 'I’d never heard of the Cultural Commission, and will it interfere with fulfilling the Great Commission? Isn't that our job—to win people to Christ?'"

Colson was momentarily speechless: "Of course we're called to fulfill the Great Commission," he replied. "'We're also called to fulfill the Cultural Commission.'"

He went on: "Christians are agents of God's saving grace — bringing others to Christ. But we are also agents of His common grace: We're to sustain and renew His creation, defend the created institutions of family and society, and critique false worldviews."

This exchange with a group of pastors underscores a critical issue deserving more attention among evangelicals. We have bifurcated the First Commission of Genesis 1:26-28 [the "Cultural Commission"] and the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20, much to the church's determent, and the detriment of society at large.

This condition could go a long way toward remedy with pastors preaching a robust theology of work from the pulpits. With such leaders teaching it regularly, we could see a change in the thinking of the church at large, with respect to integration of faith and daily work.

But I don't think this will happen until the two Commissions are bonded as one in the minds of church leaders, and the integration of faith and work is viewed as essential to the fulfillment of the Gospel itself.

Actually, there is much overlap between the First Commission of Genesis and the Great Commission of Matthew. The Great Commission is largely a re-statement of the First, with the added necessity of restoring people to a right relationship with the Lord. This relationship was broken at the Fall, not long after the First Commission was given, and this relationship is critical. But both Commissions have a fundamental connection with this present life on planet earth.

I'll pick up from here next week.

I Am Now A Pastor/Barista, And Loving It!

2011-12-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

The following is a guest post by Joshua Kelley, lead pastor of The Gathering, in Mount Vernon, WA, and barista at Starbucks. More information about Joshua and his book can be found at www.radicallynormal.com. Contact josh@tgcconline.com.

What does a full-time pastor of 14 years do when he realizes his church is running out of money and has to cut his salary in half?

This pastor (me) got a job at my home-away-from-home: Starbucks. I am now a pastor/barista, and loving it! The job is fun, I get to work with some great people, I like (most of) the customers, and I get to drink a lot of good coffee. After all those years of ministry, preceded by four years of college, it is good to be back in the “real world.”

But every now and again (especially at first), I doubt myself. How spiritual is making $4 lattes? What is the eternal value of blending up an extra-caramel Caramel Frappuccino? As a pastor, I have frequently taught that all work can be ministry and all Christians should be ministers wherever they are, but it’s different now that I am the one with the “regular” job!

I distinctly remember one of these waves of doubt. I was busy mopping the lobby but mentally working on a book I’ve been writing called The Radically Normal Christian. In my book I’m attempting to correct the Christian tendency to undervalue the things of this life that God wants us to enjoy. Suddenly, I realized this applies directly to my work at Starbucks.

I was undervaluing God’s First Commission, which wasn’t “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:18-20), but to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:26-30). In others words, God commissioned you to go and live life, to make your mark, and to fulfill your calling as someone made in his image.

By the very act of working hard to accomplish something, I am fulfilling my calling as a child of God. Now add to that all the opportunities I have to be a light here. The Holy Spirit has initiated and directed conversations with my co-workers. I am learning about the daily struggle of the real world. I am able to bestow dignity and God's love on every person who walks in, from the panhandler, to the gay couple, the businesswoman, and the retiree.

Perhaps you are struggling with the spiritual value of your "regular" job. Be encouraged! You are serving God and bringing him glory in the manner that he has called the majority of his children to.

Thank You, Lord!

2011-11-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

It's time to lighten up a bit.

Below are scenes from our Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends at our home in Bellevue yesterday. We enjoyed such a remarkable time of fun...football...drama (the grandkids put on a skit about Squanto and the first Thanksgiving), and we consumed the most amazing meal you can imagine, prepared by our good friend, Master Chef Hal Decker, and his wife, Otgo.

The house was full to overflowing, with food, laughter and love!

All Kathy and I can say is, "Thank You, Lord!"

Bottom row from the left: grandkids Emily, Aria, Ryland, Gabriel,
Katelyn (holding her gerbil), Victoria. Next row up: Jen, wife of our
nephew Israel (sitting on edge of couch behind her), grandson Austin,
Pablo (husband of our daughter Coral), Coral holding son Christian,
our daughter Selina. Back row: Kathy's brother KC,
Matt (husband of our daughter Selina), granddaughter Kaelah (in front of Matt),
our son Rodney, Kathy, me standing behind Kathy,
our son Nathanael, Sonja (Pablo's mother) sitting on chair.

Our four adult children: Nathanael, Selina, Rodney, Coral

The grandkids.

The grandkids as they really are.

Chef Hal, dishing it out.

Emily, Katelyn and Aria with special guest gerbil.

Could A Culture That Has Swallowed Atheism Ever Spit It Back Out?

2011-11-18T04:00:00.001-08:00

Is it possible for the Bible to be taken seriously once again in places where the Great Voice has been silenced? Once the Ten Commandments have been removed from the schoolroom walls, could they ever be put back up again? Could a culture that has swallowed atheism ever spit it back out?

During the decades Ukraine was ruled by the Soviet Union, atheism was the law of the land. The Great Voice was censored by force. But after Ukraine gained independence in 1991, some extraordinary things happened.

Thirteen years after Ukraine gained independence, I was invited by a Ukrainian school Superintendent to teach his administrative staff how to integrate the biblical worldview into the curriculum of their state-run school district.

What!? Here was a man with responsibility for 16,000 students in a city of 125,000, wanting me to provide training in biblical worldview for the administrators of his 21 schools! When I first received the invitation, I did not believe he understood what he was asking. To make sure he understood, I spent three hours in his downtown office, going over the basic content of the courses I teach on biblical worldview.

To my amazement, I discovered this man was on a mission to restore Christianity to his culture. He had already introduced a very sound curriculum on Christian doctrine to his schools. He told me, "teaching Christianity is more important than academics."

Why? Because he saw Christianity as necessary for restoring Ukraine's moral compass. He was doing what he could to expedite this process, including having administrators of his schools implement a Christian-based "moral education" program, bringing in curriculum on Christian doctrine to restore what had been censored by force for over fifty years.

Yes, this man knew what he was doing, and he was intentional about it. He understood what most Americans have yet to realize regarding what we have willingly censored in the name of pluralism, multiculturalism, and political correctness. He understood the loss of Moral Bearings.

Could other places that have silenced the Great Voice bring it back once again? Sometimes I think America is past the point of no return. But then I remember what I witnessed in western Ukraine, and I'm reminded that with God, nothing is impossible.

I invite you to take a look at what I saw in the city of Uzhgorod, where the Ten Commandments have been re-posted on state school walls: http://youtu.be/iM5OyuiTQVI.

Pass it on.

This photo was taken the day I spent several hours in the office of the Superintendent of the Uzhgorod School District going over the content of the training course in biblical worldview integration I would be providing for the administrators of his twenty-one schools, at his request. From the far left are my interpreter, Anya, the President of my board, John Taylor, myself, the Superintendent, and one of his key associates. It was at this meeting where the Superintendent said teaching Christianity to his students was more important than academics.

I Am Making A Moral Judgment!

2011-11-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

If we passed more and more laws to keep greed at bay in the business world, would we eventually have enough laws to contain the beast? No. As long as there are postmodern lawyers, there will be no end to "creative financing."

Our economic problems are not fundamentally economic, legal or political. They are spiritual and moral. No amount of legislation, and no amount of bailout, can do what another Great Awakening could do.

Dramatic changes in moral sensibilities have occurred in America since I was born, in 1949. What is acceptable to many today was unthinkable to most in my childhood―Christians or not.

In some respects, things are much better now. I'll never forget the day one of my elementary school teachers told our class about her trip to the South, where she encountered separate drinking fountains for whites and "Negros." Some changes in this country have been right and good.

But in making the statement, "some changes have been right and good," I am making a moral judgement! I am saying that separate drinking fountains for whites and African Americans is "wrong and bad." How dare I say this!?

I dare so on the same basis Martin Luther King did. I make this moral judgment on the basis of a Christian God and Biblical Truth that says all humans are created in the likeness and image of this God, and therefore possess equal value in His eyes.

King's dream was openly biblical. He smartly infused his message with the Prophets, and connected his cause with Scripture. [See http://dan.drydog.com/helen/the_rhetoric_of_martin_luther_kings_i_have_a_dream.html.]

Thankfully, in those days, King had an American audience with some semblance of regard for Scripture.

This is the big difference between today's battles over "moral order" and what went on in King's day. People no longer appeal to Biblical Truth. In an era when the idea of "Truth" itself is denied, appeals to Higher Law don't gain traction. "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" [Psalm 11:3] This is not to say the Bible could never be taken seriously again, for with God all things are possible, but for now, the Great Voice is muted.

Could the Great Voice be restored? Is there enough "memory" left in our body-politic to hear it?

Unexpected things happen! Like the collapse of the Soviet Union. Who thought that was possible?

Next: Lessons from Western Ukraine.

How Can We Hope For Any Agreement?

2011-10-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

When it comes to explaining why it works in rural Holland and USA to have people pay for milk and firewood by putting payments into a jar, or a bowl, without a clerk on hand to monitor the transaction while in India people would take the milk, the wood and the money, Vishal Mangalwadi says the reason the West went one way and India went another is because of different belief systems, or worldviews.

Mangalwadi identifies specific biblical premises that energized the modern educational system in the West, from the time of Luther and Calvin on. Namely, beliefs about a Creator who provided a universal moral code for our good. Beliefs that people who live in harmony with this code experience good results, and people who break it experience bad results--economic and otherwise.

At the same time, Mangalwadi decries the West's rejection of the Bible as a source of Truth. He says this development is based upon rejection of the very idea of "universal Truth." Consequently, my wife and I can go out on the streets of Seattle for over an hour and find lots of people willing to go on camera to say "right" and "wrong" is a matter of personal opinion, and find no one who mentions the Book or the One behind it. (See http://youtu.be/jsHiSLgTLv4.)

To suggest, or even imply, that there is one standard for morality (a biblical standard) that is universally "right" for everyone, is now considered a very "intolerant" idea. People who venture in this direction are likely to be branded Bible-thumping, finger-wagging bigots.

So now we are in a pickle. We lament that people do selfish and (if I can even use this word) "immoral" things in the business world, with the result that some lose their life savings, many have their retirement accounts dramatically reduced, lots of people are out of work, and public protests dominate the news. Yet, I don't hear many leaders critiquing the worldview changes that brought about the massive buy-in of the West to the notion that morality is "a personal, private thing."

How can we hope for any agreement on what our moral norms should be, when we no longer share a common standard for measuring those norms? Where is this "every-man-doing-what-is-right-in-his-own-eyes" trail we've been following since the 'values clarification' movement of the 60's taking us?

To be continued.

Are Such People Increasingly Rare?

2011-10-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

About a year and a half ago, on a sunny day in Seattle (it happens now and then), I said to my wife, “Let’s go to the Seattle Center and do some street interviews.” I wanted to ask people on the street a basic question about morality, and capture their answers on video tape.

We had done this ten years previously, and I figured it was time for an update. The question was: “How do you define ‘right’ and ‘wrong,’ and how to you determine the difference?”

So we went downtown. I set up my camera in a busy area with lots of people around. For over an hour we interviewed passersby who give us permission to record their answers and to share their responses with others.

I thought we might find a good number of people who subscribed to the prevalent idea that “what is right for one person may not be right for another--no one can judge.” I was not disappointed. This was the recurring theme. But I also thought we might hear from one or two that would appeal to the Bible, or to “Christian teaching,” as a guide for right and wrong. After all, this is America, and we heard such comments on the street a decade ago.

Is it because the Emerald City is a bastion of postmodern relativism (which it is) that we didn’t hear a single person make reference to the Bible? Nobody quoted, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We heard this a decade ago. Nobody referred to The Ten Commandments. We heard this a decade ago.

Maybe we just missed those folks this time around. Maybe if we had been on the street for another hour we might have found such a person. Maybe.

What do you think? Did we just happen to miss those who consider the Bible to be a moral plumb line for right and wrong? Or are such people increasingly rare?

Is the idea that God has written a moral code on our hearts as well as on tablets of stone still alive in your neck of the woods? If you went downtown in your area to ask the same question we did, would you come up with similar answers? Would anyone make reference to the Bible?

To view our findings, see http://youtu.be/jsHiSLgTLv4

The Root Of Our Economic Problem

2011-10-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

When Vishal Mangalwadi first visited Holland, coming from India, he saw a level of trust that allowed a dairy owner to let people help themselves to milk and put their payments in a bowl on the windowsill. He was dumbfounded! "Where did this morality come from?," he asked. "Why isn’t my society equally trustworthy?”

Mangalwadi asserts the foundation for this morality was laid by European reformers like Martin Luther and John Knox, who created a new kind of education that made character formation a primary goal. These pioneers of modern education, Mangalwadi maintains, developed education "precisely to civilize generations that could create a new Europe."

The education developed by the reformers was much different than we generally see today. Their kind of education was rooted in Judeo-Christian premises, which Mangalwadi identifies:

1. God is holy.

2. God has given us moral laws (as in the Ten Commandments).

3. Obedience to God's Word is the source of good life.

4. Disobedience to God's moral law is sin that does not go unpunished.

5. Sinners can repent and receive forgiveness and new life.

"This good news," Mangalwadi says, "became the intellectual foundation of the modern West, the force that produced moral integrity, economic prosperity, and political freedom."

Early settlers coming from Northern Europe brought this brand of education to America, and Harvard was established just sixteen years after the Puritans landed at Plymouth.

Why is the moral integrity that Mangalwadi found in Holland not present in his native India? Because the Judeo-Christian premises upon which education was founded in Western Europe and Colonial America are not at the base of Indian society. Other worldviews prevail.

But Mangalwadi asks another important question: "If moral integrity is foundational to prosperity, why don't secular experts talk about it?"

Great question! I think it gets to the root of our current economic mess. Because the root of our economic problem is not economic, but moral and spiritual.

The reason the secularized experts don't talk about moral integrity, Mangalwadi maintains, is because the universities no longer teach the concept of "universal moral truth." Why? Because the universities have abandoned the very idea of "truth" itself!

Harvard's original motto was Veritas, Christo et Ecclesiae, Latin for "Truth, for Christ and the Church." This motto was later shortened to simply, Veritas: "Truth."

Any day now, I expect it will be changed to: "Whatever."

More to come.

Pay The Bear

2011-10-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

Kathy and I got out of town for a couple of days last month with one of our sons, Rodney, and his friend, David. Our destination was two hours out of Seattle, in the mountains, where we pitched our tents in a campground by a lake.

Needing wood for our campfire, I noticed the campground was selling bundles for $5. But I recalled seeing a sign just off the main highway as we turned toward the lake, advertising firewood for an amount that was 20% less. Passing this location on our way back from a side-trip, we stopped to purchase firewood there.

As we pulled into an orderly establishment, we noticed a lot of wood carvings for sale, all out in the open, with no one around. I saw a large pile of wood, and drove toward it. Here we found a carved bear with a jar atop its head. The jar had “$4.00” written on it, and a sign at the bear’s feet read, Pay The Bear. No one was present to receive our money.

I helped myself to a bundle of wood, and "paid the bear." As I did, I noticed the jar was full of bills. I paid for my purchase with a smile of wonderment, and a heart of thanks for what some early settlers had brought with them across the Atlantic to this land: a foundation for the kind of moral integrity that allows such scenes to still occur in rural America.

I couldn't help but think of a similar experience of Vishal Mangalwadi, who Christianity Today calls, “India’s foremost Christian intellectual.” In the opening chapter of his great book, Truth and Transformation, Dr. Mangalwadi tells of his first trip to Holland, where his host said to him, “Come, let’s go get some milk.” They walked to a nearby dairy farm and entered the milk room, where no one was present. Dr. Mangalwadi’s host filled his jug with milk, then took down a bowl full of cash from a windowsill, put twenty guilders into the bowl, took some change, put the bowl back, and started walking away.

“I was stunned,” Mangalwadi wrote. "Man," I said to him, “if you were an Indian, you would take the milk and the money.”

Then Mangalwadi posits: "Where did this morality come from? Why isn’t my society equally trustworthy?”

Next week: Mangalwadi's answer to his own provocative question.

Rodney (right) enjoys the campfire with David.

To Get The Ball Rolling, Click Here

2011-09-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

I have been careful to not use this blog as a self-promoting infomercial. But today, I'm throwing all caution to the wind, and posting some shameless plugs for events I'm involved in over the next 60 days. Join me, if you can! J

Iron Sharpens Iron Men's Conference, on Saturday, October 8, in Auburn, Washington. I will be doing a session, titled: "Truck Driving Is The Work Of The Lord." Bring a friend! Click here.

Truth Chasers Unlimited is an event for middle-schoolers and parents, designed to bring extraordinary meaning to ordinary tasks such as mowing the lawn, washing dishes, and doing homework! This event takes place 9:00am - 12:30pm, on Saturday, October 15, in Covington, Washington. Please pre-register. Click here.

"Kitchen and Courthouse: 3 Keys to Bring Meaning to Life and Work," is a national webinar hosted by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, on Tuesday, October 18. This live, 90-minute event is FREE. I'll be presenting this webinar 3:00pm - 4:30pm Eastern Time (12:00pm Pacific, 9:00am Hawaii). It is appropriate for middle-school through high school students, as well as adults. Please pre-register. Space is limited to the first 1,000. Click here.

N.W. Region Association of Christian Schools International Convention, Tacoma, Washington, October 21-22. I'll be teaching the Making the Connections workshop, a 6-hour training course for Christian school teachers on the integration of biblical worldview and academics, offered for credit through Seattle Pacific University.

Southern California Association of Christian Schools International Convention, Anaheim, California, Sunday, November 20, 1:00pm - 7:00pm. I will be presenting the Think Again! workshop. This 6-hour course is also being offered for credit through Seattle Pacific University. For information, click here.

If you are looking for a speaker for your next event [retreat, banquet, weekend conference, etc.], I'd love to serve you for 30 minutes or 3 days! To get the ball rolling, click here.

By working together, we can help others bring meaning to life by connecting everything they do with the "bigger picture" of a biblical worldview. Since founding Worldview Matters eleven years ago, I have had the privilege of speaking to over 17,000 people, mostly in groups of 50 or less. These engagements have taken me to schools, churches, or business settings across the United States, as well as to Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

I'd love to come to your town next!

It Happens Tomorrow Morning

2011-09-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Events that strengthen our ability to integrate Christian truths with daily work are proliferating. While it is good to have help in strengthening one's marriage, increasing parenting skills, practicing evangelism, and being wise in handling personal finances, it is also a blessing to have assistance in connecting the biblical worldview with our work.

One such event is a nationwide webcast with Chuck Colson, called, Doing the Right Thing: An Exploration of Ethics. It happens tomorrow morning, September 24, 8:30am - 12:30pm. In addition to Chuck Colson, other speakers include Del Tackett, known for his work with the popular Truth Project, John Stonestreet, of Summit Ministries, and Robert George, of Princeton University.

For details, including locations of participating churches and schools, click here.

Then on Saturday, October 8, Faith and Work Life, a not-for-profit organization that is committed to helping men and women connect their faith life and their work life, will present the 4th Annual Faith At Work International Conference. This free event will be held on the campus of Concordia University, in Irvine, California. Distinguished speakers include David Kim, CEO of Baja Fresh and Sweet Factory, Bob Doll, Vice Chairman of Fundamental Equities, Court Durkalski, CEO of Truline Industries, Wendy Flint, Senior Vice President Marketing & Sales, Boston Reed, and more! For details and registration, click here.

Another special event of note is the Work As Worship Conference, to be held on November 3, in Dallas, Texas. This event is for CEO's, young entrepreneurs and business leaders who are passionate about combining business with ministry. Speakers include Bill Peel, Director of the LeTourneau University Center for Faith and Work, and David Greene, CEO of Hobby Lobby, among others. For details and registration, click here.

For those on the East Coast, consider attending the first Gospel & Culture Conference, hosted by the Center for Faith & Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City, on November 4-5. This event is the fruit of Redeemer's eight year investment in faith and work ministry (one of the few churches in the nation that has such a program).

The focus of Redeemer's Gospel & Culture Conference is on seeing how God is at work in the world, and how His work informs the way we understand our own work. For details and registration, click here.

For those of you who live in Western Washington, note the webcast locations shown on the RH panel above. All gatherings at these locations are free. (Left-click on the image to enlarge it.)

Paul Says The Opposite

2011-09-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

"Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." (Col. 3:2)

How does this fit with God's First Commission to govern over the earth? (Gen. 1:26-28) Setting my mind on things above? Not on things on the earth? If I'm building houses, running a bank, or selling life insurance, I have to think about things on the earth, don't I?

But if we take a close look at the context of Col. 3:2, reading verses 1-14, we see that when Paul speaks of the "things on the earth," he is not referring to our jobs, our lawnmowers, or our checkbooks:

"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, pasion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idoloatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth....Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love..." [NKJV]

The "things above," upon which we are to set our minds, are "tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering...etc."

The "things on the earth," upon which we are not to set our minds, are "fornication, uncleaness, passion, evil desire, convetousness...etc."

Paul then goes on to pen some of the most significant words in the New Testament pertaining to work on this planet: "Whatever work you do, do it with all your heart. Do it for the Lord and not for men." (verse 3:23, NLV)

Rather than suggesting that we not focus our mind on our earthly work, Paul says the opposite. We are to apply our whole heart to whatever work we do, as working for Christ Himself!

Fallen Creatures In A Fallen World

2011-09-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

"Do not love the world, or the things of the world." (I John 2:15)

How does this fit with God's command to "subdue the earth?" (Gen. 1:28) Is it wrong to love our work as helicopter pilots, car mechanics, homemakers or CEOs?

Consider four meanings for the Greek word "kosmos" in the New Testament, translated "world" into English:

1. Populated regions. As in Romans 1:8, "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world [kosmos]."

2. The human race in general. As in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world [kosmos] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." We have a big problem if we take the word "world" in I John 2:15 to mean "the human race."

3. The created realm. As in Romans 1:20, "For since the creation of the world [kosmos] His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."

4. A system of thought and behavior that is contrary to the will and ways of God. As in Colossians 2:8, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world [kosmos], and not according to Christ."

If we read I John 2:15 in the context of verses 16-17, we see John is actually exhorting the reader to love not the "world system." He is talking about not loving thought or behavior that is contrary to the will and ways of God.

In verse 16-17 John amplifies this meaning of "the world" as "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." It is this "world" that we are to not love.

If our work feeds lust and pride, then this is a problem. We need to change our attitude, not necessarily our job. However, in some cases, we may need change our job, too! It depends on what the job is. Work centered around ungodly pride, power or greed is a problem.

We are to be in the world [populated regions, created realm], but not of the world [that system of thought and behavior contrary to Christ].

This is the challenge of everyday work for fallen creatures in a fallen world.

A Rainbow Of Jobs

2011-09-02T00:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Why should we celebrate work? Because work is an opportunity to fulfill the role God had in mind for humans when He made us in the beginning: “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…and let them rule…over all the earth.” [Gen. 1:26-28]

This remarkable responsibility (I call it, the “First Commission”), covers a lot of ground. Literally! It necessitates a rainbow of jobs: earth-moving, bridge-building, skyscraper-making, ship-building, dam-constructing, fish-managing, potato-planting, truck-driving, log-cutting, house-building, bed-making, wall-painting, car-fixing, grocery-shopping, money-managing, coffee-grinding, cake-baking, music-making, dish-washing, lawn-mowing, hair-cutting. You get the picture.

Our great challenge is to do these things in sync with the Lord of our labor. Our Employer. It’s His stuff we are managing, grinding, mowing and molding. It’s His Commission we are living out. It’s His world we are stewarding―fallen and broken though it be.

God did not abandon this planet when Adam sinned, nor did He give the world over to Satan’s ownership or authority when Adam and Eve fell from grace in the garden. The earth and all it contains remains God’s own possession [Ps. 24:1], and He continues to hold it together by the word of His power [Heb. 1:3], sustaining it through time and space [Col. 1:16-17].

Satan’s offer to give Jesus "the Kingdoms of the world” [Luke 4:5-8] has led many to think that this world was Satan’s to give away. Nothing could be further from the truth! Satan’s choice of words on that occasion was masterful. Masterfully misleading, that is! I’ll explain why I say this in coming weeks.

But before I do, I have a question for you: How can a celebration of labor fit with Paul's admonition to "love not the world, nor the things in the world?"

How can a follower of Christ really celebrate work, if that work―be it car-fixing, cake-baking or coffee-grinding―is so closely associated with this present world, which we are not supposed to love?

Hummm....What gives here?

What gives is an enormous amount of confusion over the term "world." On the one hand, we have Paul exhorting us to "love not the world," and on the other we have John telling us, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..."

Our confusion lies in the fact that the term "world" [kosmos, in Greek] has four different meanings in the New Testament!

Hang on. This is important.

This is a photo of our son, Nathanael, doing the work of the Lord
by engaging in the First Commission of Genesis 1:26-28
through radio-tracking tagged trout on a research project for the
State of Washington. When I say Nathanael is doing the
work of the Lord, I am totally serious. This is what God had in mind
when He created humans. This is what God still has in mind
for humans. Nathanael is fully cognizant of this role,
and loves his work. He does it in a way that honors God,
and he does it "as unto the Lord." Today, he serves Christ
as a biologist for a major power company in the Pacific Northwest,
working on the interface between power needs and fish needs.

To Reconcile Not Only People But Things

2011-07-15T04:00:00.001-07:00

One of the greatest joys of work is rest. With this in mind, I’m taking the next six weeks off from blogging!

Before signing off, I'd like to share one more helpful tool for eradicating the "SSD virus."

The Sacred-Secular Divide looks like this:

The “sacred” activities of life include things like Sunday morning worship, Bible study, prayer, witnessing, volunteering at the homeless shelter, and going on mission trips. These activities have real significance, because they truly matter to God. They have to do with the “things above,” which we should be "setting our minds upon."

"Secular” activities don’t have as much significance. They include things like mowing the grass, earning money to keep a roof overhead, and paying electric bills. These things simply aren’t as important to God. They may be necessary, but they fall under the category of “things of earth” that should "grow strangely dim" with each passing day.

Here is what to do with that way of thinking:

Substitute this:

Any sphere of human activity may be done in harmony with God or in conflict with Him; in alignment with Him, or in opposition to Him. God's game plan is to reconcile not only people but things to Him.

Things! Things on earth! (See Colossians 1:16-20.) Business things! Legal things! Artistic things! Civil things! Yes, "that in all things He may have the preeminence...." (v. 18)!

“...since there is nothing which stands outside of His authority, He is as relevant to what goes on in civil government as He is to the way business functions, to the way family members relate to one another...to the way a local church functions. In short, He is Lord of all, and no less relevant to one area of human endeavor than another..." [Assumptions That Affect Our Lives, pp. 112-113]

So let's resist withdrawing from God's physical, here-and-now world. It's all His (Psalm 24:1)! We have a responsibility toward it. By God's grace, let's engage with it rightly. Let's celebrate the dance! Please view Detachment from Matter.

But doesn’t the Bible say, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth?” And, “Love not the world, nor the things in the world?”

I’ll pick up from here in September.

If You Read Only One Book This Summer

2011-07-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I have been focusing lately on the challenge of ridding ourselves of SSD, the Sacred-Secular Divide. I liken the process to a 600-pound man losing 420, because shedding SSD takes continued focus and repeated choices.

There are some things we can do to help the process. I recommend reading what others have to say about the problem of dualism. I have already mentioned Nancey Pearcey’s book, Total Truth. In addition, I recommend Creation Regained, by Albert Wolters, The Integrated Life, by Ken Eldred, and Job-Shadowing Daniel, by Larry Peabody. Your Work Matters To God, by Sherman and Hendricks, is also very helpful, and The Other Six Days by R. Paul Stevens, is a classic.

I also recommend Assumptions That Affect Our Lives. The seventh edition of this book is now being printed, and the feedback I continue to receive on this book has been the most rewarding aspect of my work in the past twenty-two years since writing it.

There are few books that deal solely with the problem of SSD. That’s why I’m pleased to let you know about a new book on this topic, published by YWAM Publishing, titled, Beyond the Sacred-Secular Divide. It is masterfully written by Scott D. Allen, President of Disciple Nations Alliance.

I was asked to preview Allen’s book, and below is my endorsement:

“While reading this book, at times I felt like weeping. I wasn’t sure why, until I got to the last paragraph: ‘We are living at a kairos moment in church history—a pivotal time where old paradigms are giving way and new ones are emerging.’ I then knew my spirit was weeping with God, in a rare combination of relief, joy and hope. Scott Allen has done a masterful job of pulling the important pieces together into one place. His book will remain in my top ten list of ‘game changers’ for a long time to come. My copy is highlighted throughout, with explanation points, arrows and smiley faces.”

If you read only one book this summer besides the Bible, let it be Scott Allen’s Beyond the Sacred-Secular Divide. Order from Disciple Nations Alliance here.

The Meaning Of Work Worth Doing

2011-07-01T05:50:00.000-07:00

In ridding ourselves of SSD [the Sacred-Secular Divide], it helps to keep the meaning of work worth doing in mind. (Not all work is worth doing. It takes work to rob banks, but that’s not work worth doing.)

Here’s a definition of “work worth doing” that I have taped above my computer display:

“Work worth doing is any expenditure of energy, mental or physical, for pay or not, that rightly manages God’s stuff (tangible or intangible), and employs my God-given abilities to benefit others (directly or indirectly), or prepares me to do so.”

God's tangible stuff includes wood, metal, cloth, and electricity. His intangible stuff includes language, numbers and ideas (all truth is God's truth). Doctors and nurses benefit people directly, while loggers benefit people indirectly. This definition applies to children, students in school, adults in the workforce, and retired folk. It applies to work at home and work outside the home; to the kitchen as well as the courthouse. [FYI, I’ll be doing a free on-line 90-minute webinar on October 18, called, “Kitchen and Courthouse: Bring Meaning To Life.” To reserve your place, go to www.highpurpose.blogspot.com. Space is limited.]

The part about “managing God’s stuff rightly” is a reference to the First Commission of Genesis 1 (to govern over God’s creation as His vice-regents), and the part about “benefitting others" is a reference to the Great Commandment of Luke 10 (to love our neighbors as ourselves).

In short, work worth doing carries out the First Commission in keeping with the Great Commandment.

Is your work worth doing? Ask yourself:

#1. “What part of God’s stuff (tangible or intangible) am I managing, cultivating, or governing rightly?”

#2. “How does this work directly or indirectly benefit people?”

#3."If my work does not do these two things now, how is it preparing me to do so in the future?”

Any work that benefits others (directly or indirectly) while managing God’s stuff rightly is work worth doing, whether it’s building airplanes for the Boeing Company, or cooking healthy meals for one's family.

I recommend putting this definition of work on your computer display, if you govern over language or numbers, or tape it inside your lunch box, if you govern over lumber, or drive a FedEx truck.

When it comes to bringing extraordinary meaning to ordinary work, it helps to keep the meaning of work worth doing in mind.

Whatever You Had For Breakfast This Morning

2011-06-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

One way to be cured of SSD [that mental virus called the Sacred-Secular Divide] is to fully recognize God at work around us every day. I’m not just referring to Him keeping the earth spinning at 1,038 mph at the equator, but the fact that whatever you had for breakfast this morning was the result of God at work, too.

I’m not just referring to Him providing the sunshine that enabled your cornflakes to be. I’m also thinking of how He worked through so many people to get it to your bowl. You see, God could have chosen to deliver your food to your front door by Himself, fully prepared. But instead, we see a long human chain that links the farmer to the soil, the truck driver to the marketplace, and the grocery clerk to the cash register. All along the way, from one end of the chain to the other, humans are engaging in the First Commission, whether they realize it or not.

If we continue to follow the chain out the grocery store door, we find men and women who spend 40-80 hours a week at thousands of jobs that generate the dollars paid at the cash register. If we go back to the other end of the chain, where the farmer meets the soil, we discover things that only God can do (like creating sunshine, plants and water), but this doesn’t mean His work is done through photosynthesis alone. God does His work through truck drivers, grocery clerks and bankers.

As humans, we were created to co-work with God, by ruling over raw materials He alone sustains, shaping and molding them (as only image-bearers of God can do) into cornflakes, oatmeal and french toast. Milk comes from cows and grass that God alone sustains, but the process God uses to give you your breakfast is a delightful dance between Himself and human beings.

God sustains the milkman, and the truck. The butcher and the baker, too. These are all means by which God fulfills His purpose for food, His love for people, and His intention for human beings to govern over creation, using the gifts and abilities He provides. That’s what work is all about.

Secular jobs? Think again. The Hebrew word for "work" and "worship" is the same word. Click: avodah.

Ahhhhhhh...

2011-06-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

I don’t think we’ll know the complete answer to why God created humans until we cross through to the other side. Then I think we’ll all look back and say, “Ahhhhhh….”

Thanks to Scripture, we know how we came to be. (Yes, I do believe God formed Adam out of dirt. That doesn’t sound very flattering. The “dust of the earth” sounds better. But not by much.) Yet, this doesn’t answer the really big question: Why did God create humans?

The answer I have heard all my life is: “We were created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” But this answer has never fully satisfied me. So, I’d like to tweak the question a bit: What role did God have in mind for humans when He created us?

This is much easier to answer, because the Bible tells us exactly what role God had in mind for us to play. His intention from the beginning was for us to govern [steward, rule, have dominion] over Earth and all it contains. Genesis 1:26-28 doesn’t tell us much about the why, but it sure does tell us the what!

This is truly mind-boggling. God created human beings to rule over His creation! I like the way Chuck Colson put it: “On the sixth day, God created human beings—and ordered them to pick up where He left off!” That’s quite a responsibility—and a great honor. Talk about purpose!

This satisfies me. It gives me purpose in mowing my lawn, and ridding it of moles (one of the greatest challenges to human governance known to man, and a sure sign of the curse). It brings meaning to taking trash to the garbage cans, and cleaning drains on the roof. It gives me joy in writing, speaking, consulting and coaching. When I do these things rightly, I feel God's pleasure, like Eric Liddell running a race.

Of course, not every moment is a pleasure. Sometimes I bump into pain that comes with a broken world. Sweating isn't fun. Nor are moles. But I always come back to the realization that I was made for a reason, and I can engage in the call of the First Commission with satisfaction, when building a backyard chicken coop with a friend, or collecting eggs the fowl produce.

Farewell SSD.

Stewarding our four faithful egg-makers.

Which came first? The chicken!

A sure sign of the curse: moles.

The Earthiness Of The Great Commission

2011-06-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

To be cured of SSD [the Sacred-Secular Divide], it helps to take another look at the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. Revisiting the Great Commission is a healthy thing to do now and then, because it defines the missional identity of the Church.

The Great Commission has a very “earthy” focus. That is, its focus is more on the here-and-now than life-hereafter. Yet, as a child growing up in the church, I translated it this way: “Go everywhere to save souls, so people can go to heaven when they die.”

The Great Commission doesn’t say “make converts,” although baptism certainly implies this necessary step. What it says is: “make disciples.” It doesn’t talk about teaching people to ask Jesus into their hearts, but “teaching them to observe all that I [Jesus] have commanded you.” This observation takes place on Earth, as we are "going."

In the Great Commission, Christ doesn’t say, “I’ll see you in heaven,” but “I’m with you on earth—‘till the end of the age.” It is the earthiness of the Great Commission that links it so powerfully with the First Commission of Genesis 1:26-28. The Great Commission of Matthew 28 focuses on what happens here, where God wants His will to be done—as it is in Heaven. Jesus is Lord of both realms at once [v. 18].

God has an earthly intention for human beings, and this intention is stated in the first chapter of the Book: to rule over all creation. This involves flying helicopters in logging operations, managing salmon, manufacturing light bulbs, designing software, cutting hair, rearing children, and making breakfast.

The Great Commission is about people everywhere [all nations] observing all He has commanded, in the context of wherever we go. For half our waking hours, this is where we work.

One of the best writings I have seen on the unity of the two commissions [the First and the Great] is in Chapter 6 of Liberating the Laity, by R. Paul Stevens: “Because man failed to keep the first mandate [Genesis 1:26-28], God gave us in Jesus the missionary mandate [Matthew 28:18-20]…But what is seldom understood is that God gave us the second mandate in order to restore the first…We are saved in order to fulfill God’s original intention.”

This leaves no room for the Sacred-Secular Divide.

The Most Important Occupation Jesus Could Have

2011-06-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

When it comes to ridding ourselves of SSD [the Sacred-Secular Divide], it would be helpful if the First Commission [Genesis 1:26-28] was given as much weight by Christian writers, singers, teachers and preachers as the Great Commission [Matthew 28:18-20]. Yet, making this suggestion may cause me to be viewed by some as a heretic.

I can hear it now: “Which is more important, Overman? Flying helicopters to lift trees out of forests so logs can be cut into lumber for building homes, or saving souls?”

But positing this question dichotomously as an "either-or" proposition is like asking, as Al Erisman, co-founder of the Center for Integrity in Business, does: “Which wing of an airplane is more important?”

I still hear push-back: “Which is more important, a house built of wood, or mansion in heaven?”

My response is: “More important to whom?”

If I answer the question from the perspective of my own self-interests, a mansion in heaven is more important than a house on Earth. But if I consider the question from the perspective of God’s wholistic interests, I come up with a different answer.

What am I getting at? I suggest we remember Mary’s words to the servants at the wedding of Cana: “Whatever He tells you to do, do it.” Isn’t that our sacred task? As those servants filled pots with water, were they not doing the Lord’s work?

For eighteen years, the most important occupation Jesus could have was to build furniture and plows, because this is what His Father showed Him to do. Justin Martyr, in the second century, said plows made by Jesus were still being used in Martyr's lifetime. Good workmanship!

The work God wants us to do includes earth-tending and culture-creating. For some, the work of God may be preaching, for others it may be sawing logs into lumber. That's because God wants people to be protected from the elements, and He uses humans to make the shingles. He wants lumber to be moved from point A to point B, and uses truck drivers to do the transporting.

Perhaps the most helpful thing in ridding ourselves of SSD is to view the First Commission and the Great Commission as a single unit. As Paul Stevens wrote in Liberating the Laity: “God gave us the second mandate in order to restore the first.”

We’ll pick up from here next week.

How Flying Helicopters Is A Way To Really Serve The Lord

2011-05-27T04:00:00.000-07:00

Not long ago, I had a conversation with a young man in my office I’ll call “Jason.” He is in his early 20s, a committed follower of Christ, and a graduate of Bible school.

Jason loves to participate in street evangelism. His greatest thrill in life is to lead someone to the Lord. Wonderful! A remarkable young man.

When I ask him what profession he wants to pursue, Jason turns his head to the side, looks up at the ceiling, utters the words "Forgive me Lord,” and then (looking me straight in the eye), declares: "I want to fly helicopters."

Flying really interests Jason, and he's particularly fond of helicopters. He loves everything about them. He tells me he wants to lift logs out of forests, in logging operations. Yet, it is evident Jason feels tension in his life because he doesn’t see how flying helicopters is a way to really serve the Lord.

I ask Jason if he is aware of the First Commission. He says he hasn’t heard of the First Commission, so I turn his attention to Genesis 1:26-28. Here is how it reads in The Message:

God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them
      reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
      the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself..."
     He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
     "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!..."

The Amplified Bible translates verse 28 like this: “And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]…”

I shared with Jason how flying a helicopter in logging operations fits beautifully into the fulfillment of our job description, to steward God's creation. He could directly serve God and indirectly love people by lifting trees from forests so they can be hauled to mills and cut into lumber for building homes.

Jason's face lit up. He had an epiphany. "I never thought of that!" he said. He suddenly saw a way to participate in the First Commission of Genesis 1:26-28 and the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. Both.

He seemed to shed 420 pounds in an instant.

Using all its vast resources in the service of God and man...Take charge!

Like Shooting A Few Sacred Cows

2011-05-20T04:00:00.001-07:00

The Sacred-Secular Divide is a mental problem that affects us more than we realize. Mark Greene calls it, “SSD.” Sounds like a disease, doesn’t it? Dr. David Scott, a professor of theology at Southern Evangelical Seminary, calls it a “mental virus.” See his essay, A Church Without A View.

It doesn’t sound very nice to say it, but we really do have a mental problem. The “virus” is so deeply embedded in our brains that we assume the Sacred-Secular Divide is a normal, natural, and even necessary way of thinking.

This is a huge part of the problem. We think this way of thinking is normal! Some may even like the Sacred-Secular Divide. It might feel good to be known as a person who is “in full-time Christian ministry.” It has a nice ring to it. Many have done a lot, given up a lot, or paid a lot to earn that distinction. Others dream about it. “Someday,” they think, “I will quit my job (or retire) and go into the ministry.”

Go into the ministry? What does that mean? Aren't we "in the ministry" wherever we go?

Was Jesus "in the ministry" during the eighteen years He spent as a carpenter? Was He doing what His Father showed Him to do during those years as much as the last three? Actually, Jesus was in the ministry of carpentry. And this is no joke.

Nearly 500 years ago, Martin Luther tried to rid the church of the notion that some people have “special” calls: “Monastic vows rest on the false assumption that there is a special calling, a vocation, to which superior Christians are invited to observe the counsels of perfection while ordinary Christians fulfill only the commands; but there is simply no special religious vocation since the call of God comes to each at the common tasks.”

For Luther, such common tasks included milking cows and changing babies’ diapers. These things, too, are “the Lord’s work.” But if you or I were to ask one hundred Christians to give six examples of “the Lord’s work,” I doubt if milking cows would be mentioned.

Speaking of cows, I’m convinced that ridding ourselves of SSD requires some hard decisions, like shooting a few sacred cows. While the thought of shooting cows may be unpleasant, I think it's necessary.

To be continued.

The Most Important Talk At Lausanne

2011-05-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

"We honor, celebrate and tell stories about pastors, preachers, worship leaders, missionaries and social activists,” Mark Greene told his audience at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism, in Cape Town last October, “but we almost never hear stories about cleaners, or bus drivers, or lawyers, or bankers, or politicians."

Why is this the case?

Greene, a leader in the marketplace movement, told his Cape Town audience that we have a “systemic” problem: "The good seed of the marketplace movement,” he declared, “is being planted in poor soil. So it will not matter how much we water that soil, or how diligently we seek to nurture the seed, how we protect the plant from disease. The soil is deeply affected by the Sacred-Secular Divide."

This is the truth. The church has been so infected by “SSD,” [Greene's shorthand for the Sacred-Secular Divide], that no matter how much we try to nurture the marketplace movement, it can’t blossom as long as the soil in which it is planted is leached of nutrients.

“We may know in our heads that the Gospel embraces every area of life,” Greene said, “but this is not the Gospel we have been teaching people to live, or celebrating when they do.”

"There are two strategies to reach the world,” Greene maintains. “The first one is to recruit the people of God to use some of their leisure time to join the missionary initiatives of church-paid workers. And the second one is to equip the people of God for fruitful mission in all of their life.”

The first strategy has been the predominant approach of evangelical churches for decades. The second is in need of reformation through elimination of the "SSD" problem.

Greene, the author of Thank God It's Monday, is the Executive Director of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity. This organization, founded in 1982 by John Stott, is based on the premise that “every part of our lives comes under the Lordship of Christ, and that all of life is a context for worship, mission, ministry and active Christian engagement."

Bill Peel, co-author of Going Public With Your Faith, and Executive Director of the LeTourneau Center for Faith and Work, says Geene’s Cape Town speech, “may be the most important talk at Lausanne.”

Watch an edited version here: People At Work.

The Neverland Of Our Times

2011-05-06T04:00:00.001-07:00

When Luke (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) wrote, "He is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36), I don't think he meant to imply that Jesus is just Lord of all who believe He is Lord. The fact is, Christ's authority applies to everyone, whether His authority is recognized or not.

Christ is the Head of the University of Washington whether the Board of Regents acknowledges Him as such or not. If the Board has any authority at all (and it does), it is only because God grants it authority. Jesus made this clear at His own trial, when He said to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above." (John 19:11)

So when we add up the fact that the universe is held together by the command of Christ, and that everything and everyone on the planet is owned by Him, and that all authority is given unto Him in heaven and earth, the only thing I can conclude is, the "secular world" is the Neverland of our times. We have talked about it so long we think it is actually there. But where exactly is this place?

The word secular comes from the Latin word saeculum, meaning an "age," or "long period of time." At one time, this word may have distinguished the temporal, time-bound realm from the eternal, but today the word goes far beyond that. It connotes things detached from God's business, existing outside the realm of His affairs, interests and authority. But the truth is, we can't get away from His business, interests or authority, no matter how hard we try. Even, as King David said, if we dwell in "the uttermost parts of the sea." (Psalm 139)

I suggest we drop the word "secular" altogether, and substitute the word "secularized." While we don't live in a secular world, we do live in a world that has been secularized by humans. There are no secular jobs, but many secularized jobs. The University of Washington is a secularized place, but not really a secular school.

Words can send unintended messages. Every time we use the word "secular" we reinforce the idea it exists. This makes it hard to eliminate the "sacred-secular distinction," as Nancy Pearcey describes it. So let's quit making the distinction altogether.

See Where Exactly Is The Secular World?: http://youtu.be/gPPh3FCRlnc

I Saw Walking Miracles

2011-04-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

As a young man attending the University of Washington, I was one of 35,000 students. While our minds were busy with academic pursuits, inside every chest was a pump that expanded and contracted 100,000 times a day without a thought. Made of tiny vibrating loops of energy first set in motion by the voice of God, these fleshy little drivers kept us going even during sleep, whether in class, or in bed.

Every professor's brain contained more cells than stars in the known universe. The electrochemical communication that flowed among 100 billion neurons allowed each instructor to do their work. Whether atheist, agnostic, or saint, each was continuously held together by the sustaining power of Christ's word (Heb. 1:3). He gave us all breath, 14,000 times a day.

Christ kept sustaining us, quarter after quarter (Heb. 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17). God owned us, professor and student alike (Psalm 24:1). All around me at the University of Washington, I saw walking miracles, each created in the likeness and image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). What is secular about all this? Nothing.

And then there was the campus itself. Evergreen trees and rhododendron plants were everywhere. Cherry trees pinked each spring like clockwork. And the buildings! They, too, were made of vibrating loops of energy set in motion by Christ's voice, reverberating since the beginning, as a continuous symphony.

I have never seen a secular building in my life. Ugly ones, yes, because we live in a fallen world where people do some hideous things with God's stuff, but never secular ones. Each one is made entirely of God's stuff alone, sustained through Christ's command, put together piece by piece by image-bearers of God.

I spent about six years at the University, earning two bachelor's degrees. One in music, and the other in German language and literature. Neither subject was a secular subject. Why? Because God created and sustains sound waves and eardrums. He also gives humans the amazing capacity to think abstractly, speak and write language. Music was His idea, and so is language. What's secular about that?

There is no secular subject at the University of Washington, because if it has anything to do with time, space, or matter, it's all the stuff of God. Furthermore, the University of Washington can never be a "secular school," because its Head is Christ.

Say what?!!

I'll pick up from here next week.

The best thing that happened during my time at the University of Washington was meeting a remarkable walking miracle by the name of Kathy Marie. She earned her Mrs. degree in just two years! (Brilliant woman.) This photo was taken on the U.W. campus, about four months before we tied the knot, nearly 41 years ago.

Where Exactly Is The Secular World?

2011-04-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

As a footnote to last week's post, let me add something here: to say that God is continuously sustaining all the elements of the universe is not to say He controls every human act.

To sustain and to control are two different things. If I punch you in the nose, I trust you won't think God made me do it. While He will sustain my fist if I choose to connect it with your face, don't assume He is causing me to swing, or that this particular act was planned by Him from the foundation of the world. God gives His image-bearers, as Thomas Aquinas put it, "the dignity of causality."

While God is in a position of absolute control (that is to say, if He wanted to, God could turn my arm into Jello before impact, or send an angel to divert my aim), He does not control every act of humanity absolutely. I know I'm wading into controversial waters here, but the idea that everything that happens is "the will of God" is fatalism.

Back to the "sacred-secular split."

The second big help I've found in shedding the "sacred-secular distinction," is the acceptance of God's universal ownership. That is, the earth and everything in it belongs to Him. Not just the mountains, the rivers and the apple trees, but the ring on my finger, the shirt on my back, and the roof over my head. All the oil in every reserve, all the gold in Fort Knox, and whatever you may have in your checking account is His, along with all the cars on the freeway, the jets in the sky, and every person who drives or flys them.

"The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, the world and those who dwell therein." [Psalm 24:1] This is God's world! Furthermore, He gives every human breath (Job 12:10), and "in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:24-28)."

So where exactly is the secular world?

Yet, as a student at the University of Washington, I attended a "secular school," didn't I? When I worked during the summers unloading box cars on the Seattle waterfront, I had a "secular job," didn't I?

Well...no. I'll explain why next week.

String Theory And The Voice Of God

2011-04-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

A good starting point for ridding oneself of the “sacred-secular split” is to accept the premise that the entire universe is sustained, day after day, by the command of God. Not only did Christ make everything out of nothing, but He continues to maintain every atom through time.

Col. 1:16-17 tells us, “In Him, all things consist [cohere, are held together].” In Hebrews 1:1-3 we read how the Creator-Sustainer does this. It says that Christ, "through whom God made the world," upholds all things "by the word of His power.”

“By the word of His power?” What’s that all about? Is the Bible saying that the power holding all things together is Christ’s command? His utterance? His speech?

Hummm....

In Genesis 1, we read the universe was spoken into existence: “And God said, ‘Let there be…,’ and there was…” Sounds like God created everything via His voice to me. But, some may ask, “Isn’t that just poetic language?”

Maybe so. Maybe not. Maybe both.

Scientists tell us if you break matter down to its smallest components, you'll find atoms. If you break atoms down, you'll find quarks. It’s just a theory, mind you, but some scientists tell us if you break down quarks, you'll find “vibrating loops of energy,” called “strings.” The rate at which these “strings” vibrate determines the specific quality of the particular element in which the vibrating loops reside.

Could these vibrating loops of energy be the continuing reverberation of the voice of God, vibrating since His first creative command?

Einstein tried to formulate a “unified field theory” that would encompass both big-world physics (gravity and galaxies) and itty-bitty-world (sub-atomic) physics. A theory that would unify the diversity and complexity of everything. He never did figure it out.

I’m no Einstein, but this formula makes perfect sense to me:

U = (v + i) p

Where U = the Unified Field, v = the voice of God, i = the intelligence of God, and p = the purposes of God. It reads like this: the Unified Field is equal to the voice of God added to His intelligence multiplied by His purposes.

God has unified the entire cosmos through a single voice, emanating from one intelligent mind with guiding purpose. And He's still speaking―everywhere, all the time!

Please watch String Theory and the Voice of God: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TtJSv5ojbU

This Should Be Fun!

2011-04-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

Ridding oneself of the "sacred-secular distinction" is like shedding 420 pounds. If you weigh 600, it probably means there is a long and significant history behind the matter, unless you have a glandular problem. Losing 420 is no quick and easy fix. But neither is losing 20 pounds! And keeping it off requires radically different mind-and-fork habits.

The reason shedding the sacred-secular distinction is no quick and easy fix is because 2,500 years of Western history are hard to buck. That's a lot of weight. Keeping the sacred-secular distinction "off" requires radical changes in thinking and doing.

When presenting live instruction on this topic, I tell my audiences, "the secular world does not exist." I'm convinced some people think I've lost a screw or two. The fact is, I know I have.

Dr. Albert E. Greene did "brain surgery" on me many years ago. Bless him! He took the necessary time to explain the problem in such a way that I was able to shed it.

Helping people to shed the sacred-secular distinction has a long Christian history. Luther and Calvin fought it, as did the Apostle Paul.

The Apostle Paul? I think this is the best place to start. So, let's begin with his letter to the Colossians.

In Chapter 1, verses 16-17, Paul (led by the Holy Spirit) asserts that Jesus Christ "created all things that are in heaven and on earth." All things. Including everything we see and don't see. The visible and invisible. Mountains and angels: all things were created through Christ and for Christ.

And Paul doesn't stop there. He says, "In Him, all things consist." The Amplified Bible puts it this way: "...in Him all things cohere, are held together."

Let's camp here for a moment. Right now I am typing on a keyboard made of plastic, connected to a computer made of chips created out of sand and other elements from the earth. Is Christ holding together my keyboard and LCD screen as I type? Is He holding together the electronic signals going through the air that allow you to read the words I wrote? Is He holding my fingers together, and your eyes? Is He holding my chair together? Your house? Your office?

Stay tuned. This should be fun!

The 800-Pound Gorilla In The Room

2011-04-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Leland Ryken, Christian writer and professor at Wheaton College, says, "Nancy Pearcey is unsurpassed in the current generation of Christian thinkers."

In 1999, Dr. Pearcey co-authored How Now Now Shall We Live, with Chuck Colson, and Total Truth came out in 2004. Her latest book, Saving Leonardo, has been met with critical acclaim. J.P. Moreland, professor of philosophy at Biola University, calls it, "her best effort yet . . . a must read." Gene Edward Veith, author and provost of Patrick Henry College, calls the book, "brilliant."

Nancy Pearcey is a voice worth listening to.

A couple of years ago, I did a telephone interview of Dr. Pearcey, and included it in my book-and-DVD, The Difference One Life Can Make: Experiencing God's Pleasure At Work.

Very succinctly, Dr. Pearcey articulated why so many Christians fail to see their work in politics, business, education, the arts, and science as truly valid and authentic ways to serve God. They think, "if I really wanted to serve God, I would be in the ministry [as a pastor or missionary]."

The critical problem, she maintains, is that such people are "operating under the sacred-secular distinction."

When I asked her what the solution is, she replied, "We have to attack it at the root...the very idea of a sacred-secular split."

Nancy Pearcey's analysis is spot on. But when was the last time you heard a sermon on getting rid of the sacred-secular split?

Holding on to the "sacred-secular distinction" neutralizes God's very purpose for the body of Christ in the world. Yet it continues to be the 800 pound gorilla in the room that many don't see.

I believe getting rid of the sacred-secular distinction is the single most pressing need for the overall health of the body of Christ (and the nations of the world) today. I say this because if this hairy animal can be eliminated, a host of other ailments will be mitigated, like when a 600 pound man loses 420.

With the understanding that the sacred-secular distinction is as dangerous to the health of the Church as 420 extra pounds to a human, I am compelled to devote several posts to shedding (and shredding) the ugly ape.

To hear an excerpt of my interview with Dr. Pearcey click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypID1NXF2Bw

Nancy Pearcey

I Discovered A Gold Mine!

2011-03-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

Research by George Barna demonstrates that a person’s worldview has a powerful effect on human behavior. Furthermore, his studies indicate that "a person’s worldview is primarily shaped and is firmly in place by the time someone reaches the age of 13...Such studies underscore the necessity of parents and other influencers being intentional in how they help develop the worldview of children."

Age 13? Yes, 13.

I'm convinced that many adults have a challenge making connections between Christian faith and work because they have not had the benefit of a well-developed biblical worldview from pre-teen years. This is not to say that a person who did not have this benefit can't integrate Christian faith with work, but an early start in "thinking Christianly" helps. Barna's studies also underscore the critical role of parents (and other influencers) in this shaping.

Occasionally I'm asked if I know of resources for biblical worldview development for pre-teens. Until recently, I knew of little to recommend. But then I found a new series on biblical worldview development targeted to pre-teens, and I can't say enough about it! I discovered a gold mine!

The series is called, What We Believe. Volume 1 is titled, Who Is GOD? And Can I Really Know Him?, and Volume 2 is called, Who Am I? And What Am I Doing Here? Two more volumes are in process. These books are written by John Hay, of Summit Ministries, and David Webb, of Apologia Educational Ministries.

These remarkable resources now make the development of a biblical world-and-life-view accessible to thousands of busy families. We bought three copies of Volume 1 for our three married children, to use with our grandkids. I recommend you consider doing the same for the benefit of your own kids or grandkids. Or for yourself! It's great reading!

To order, visit https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=136.

To understand how intentional some parents in the past have been about building a biblical worldview into the minds of pre-teens, listen to Max DePree, former CEO of Herman Miller (second largest producer of office furniture in the world), as he explains how this was done by his own parents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxFxOc3QeX8

Today, few families sit down for three meals together, let alone use this time to develop a biblical worldview. But as an adult, Max DePree was intentional about applying his biblical worldview to the Herman Miller Company in ways that made it a world-class company.

Volume 1 of the What We Believe series.

A Place To Focus On The Future

2011-03-18T04:00:00.001-07:00

The current coaching movement emerged in the 1990s, and is gaining momentum. The term "coaching," however, conjures up different meanings for different people, and requires definition.

When some people hear the word "coach," they think of a person who blows a whistle to tell you when to start running in place and when to stop, and makes you do 50 push-ups when you mess up. This is not what "coaching" is about, as the term is used by professional organizations specializing in this growing field.

As a Christian faith-integration coach, my job is to pose questions that help my clients hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to them, and to bring my clients to a point of clarity about specific action steps they feel they should take. I help clients shape their objectives, not the objectives I design for them.

This is much different than the role of a consultant. A consultant diagnoses problems, comes up with solutions, and tells people what to do. I don't tell my clients what to do. They tell me what they are going to do. Thankfully, my doctor is a consultant, not a coach!

A coach is not a mentor. A mentor has expertise in a particular area, and passes on that expertise to a mentee through a teacher-pupil relationship. We need mentors. However, coaching is not about teaching, imparting information, or bringing someone up to a mentor’s level. A good coach can work effectively with a politician yet know little about politics, or work with a plumber yet know diddly squat about the plumbing business. The person being coached is the expert in his or her own field.

A coach is not a counselor or a therapist. Counselors and therapists discover issues in a client's past that are blocking progress, and help them to get past these issues. As a coach, I do not provide therapy.

Coaching is a place to focus on the future. My particular coaching practice helps people to clarify goals and experience growth in the context of God's call in the workplace. Whatever kind of workplace that may be. My role is to listen, ask questions, encourage, challenge, and always be supportive.

For more, read What is Meant by Coaching?

To find a faith-integration coach, go to http://www.firstcommission.blogspot.com/

Faith-Integration Coaching

2011-03-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Tony Stoltzfus, in Leadership Coaching, wrote: "...one study I've seen found that learners who practiced a skill retained 700% more than those who simply read about it. Reading or teaching can give us the conceptual knowledge to use a skill, but only practice and feedback provide the confidence most of us need to apply it in real life."

Tony's words explain why I believe one-on-one coaching is vital for taking the Faith at Work movement from great concepts to great practice, and from "ideas that stimulate thought," to transformed lives, transformed workplaces, and transformed communities.

Imagine a world in which millions of followers of Christ actually lived out the implications of their faith through co-worker relationships, marketing practices, salary/benefit issues, work environment, policies and procedures, product development, sales, production, pricing, service, management, profit distribution and community service!

Sounds great, doesn't it? Yet, people who are unintentional about these things can expect little growth in these areas.

So let me ask you a personal question: Are you ready to get 700% more out of what you are reading with respect to the integration of faith and work? A personal faith-integration coach can make all the difference in the world.

Several years ago, I sensed the Holy Spirit leading me to "spend more time with fewer people." I held on to this directive, but I did not know exactly how to put it into practice.

Then I took a course in Core Coaching Skills from Creative Results Management (founded by Dr. Keith Webb), and things fell remarkably into place for me.

With today's post, I'm going public with my faith-integration coaching practice. Hurray!

I invite you to explore Faith-Integration Coaching, and then contact me for a test drive. The "test drive" will give you a feel for what faith-integration coaching is all about, and it will allow both of us to see if our coaching relationship is a good fit. There is no fee for this "test drive."

Geographic proximity is not an issue, because I coach via telephone or Skype. But I am limited in the number of clients I can take.

To view a sample agreement, click here. If you have further questions, feel free to e-mail me at "coach."

Want to get 700% more? Consider a faith-integration coach!

My Personal Board Of Directors

2011-03-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

I invite you to take out a clean piece of paper, and write the following at the top: My Personal Board Of Directors. (Yeah, I know it sounds like you’re back in school, but humor me. I think you’ll be glad you did this exercise.)

In the middle of the page, draw an oval to represent a large conference room table. Print your own name at one end of the table. Around this table, print the names of others who currently influence you the most, in a positive way. They may be living or deceased. They may be people you have not met, such as authors, media personalities, sports figures, or musicians. These are the voices you turn to, listen to, and learn the most from. These are the voices you take seriously when you want counsel, ideas, motivation, companionship, guidance, or a boost of confidence. Limit the number of Board Members to six or seven.

Now write a short description by each name that identifies the reason he or she is on your Personal Board of Directors. For example, “He always makes time for me,” or, “She never makes me feel like my ideas won't work.”

Finally, write a short personal note to one of your Personal Board Members (a living one), thanking this person and letting him/her know that he/she is on your Board, and why. Better yet, write a note to all of your living Board Members.

I was taught this wonderful exercise by my friend Dr. Kathy Koch (pronounced cook), Founder of Celebrate Kids, Inc. (http://www.celebratekids.com/). With her permission, I have shared it with many others.

Several of my Personal Board Members have sat at my table for more than 30 years. My wife has been on my Personal Board for over 40 years!

What a difference these people have made in my life! They are the friends I cannot afford to live without.

Who is on your Personal Board of Directors? Maybe you cannot limit it to six or seven. Get a bigger piece of paper. Thank at least two of them today, and be sure to let them know why they are on your Board. You will be glad you did, and they will be glad, too.

Oh...one more question: Did you include Jesus on your Personal Board?

He's been on mine for 53 years.

Thank you, Lord!

John Taylor (left) and Bill Laney (right) have been on my Personal Board of Directors for 30+ years.

The People We Can't Afford To Live Without

2011-02-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

Tom Rath discovered something surprising that goes against common thinking about the workplace. He discovered that a person having a "best friend at work" is seven times more likely to be engaged in his or her job.

Rath, the best-selling author of How Full Is Your Bucket? and StrengthsFinder 2.0, writes about this in his book, Vital Friends: The People you Can't Afford to Live Without.

The value of Rath's book, in my mind, is that he puts meat on the term friend. He identifies eight different kinds of "vital friends." As I summarize his eight types below, think about people in your own life who fit the various categories:

Builder: a person who motivates you to accomplish things you would not otherwise accomplish.

Champion: a person who sings your praises to others.

Collaborator: a person who has similar interests, and shares those interests with you.

Companion: a person who is always there for you.

Connector: a person who introduces you to others (without being asked!).

Energizer: a person who gives you a boost.

Mind Opener: a person who challenges you to think outside the box.

Navigator: a person who provides guidance for you.

As I read Vital Friends, I couldn't help but think of the people in my life who have filled the roles described by Rath. It was easy for me to see why he calls these friends the people we can't afford to live without. I became especially thankful for them.

Here's one more important thing I thought about as I read Rath's book: whom am I a vital friend for?

Reading this book made me aware that I have a great privilege to be a vital friend for others, and that others need me as much as I need them.

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor;
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Please watch John Beckett, author of Loving Monday, as he shares about a significant group of business leaders he meets with on a regular basis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvzPQMGuTpw.

It Wasn't Imposed By The NFL

2011-02-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

The most effective accountability is the self-imposed kind.

Last week, I heard a great example of self-imposed accountability. A friend and I attended an early morning gathering of about a thousand men in our area who had come to hear a professional football player share how his Christian faith intersects with his personal life, and with his work as a quarterback.

For the past seven years, this player has been part of a group of four men who share their lives with one another, encourage one another, ask questions of one another and know themselves so well they can tell when they are lying to one another. He calls this group his "covenant group."

Not a bad idea. They hold each other accountable in specific ways.

For example, when he is on the road, this football player takes a cell phone video of himself disabling the porn channel on the hotel television, and then e-mails that video to his friends by 7:30pm. If the other guys don't get the e-mail, they contact him.

The speaker didn't mention how his "covenant group" got started. One thing's certain, it wasn't imposed by the NFL. Although his wife must feel it's a great idea, I'm certain she didn't impose it on him either.

Would a "covenant group" even work if it was imposed by an outside force, through some form of compulsory participation? Forget it.

How about making people who don't have a "covenant group" feel guilty, to get them to have one? Would that work? Give me a break.

A person needs to have a strong internal "want to" in order for self-imposed accountability like this football player described to work. A person needs to have the kind of "want to" that comes out of a pure motive. Like the motive to be "a man after God's own heart," as King David was.

David had his own need for self-imposed accountability. "Woe to him who is alone when he falls." These words, written by David's son, in Ecclesiastes 4, say it all.

Although it is sometimes quoted at weddings, Ecclesiastes 4:10-13 speaks specifically to the workplace: "Two are better than one," writes Solomon, "because they have a good reward for their labor."

"For if they fall, one will lift up his companion....Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

The System Inside

2011-02-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

The question is not whether accountability is needed. The question is by what means.

The Reformers of Geneva understood that all humans have a "bent" to go astray. It comes naturally, whether we call ourselves Christians or not.

The propensity to sin is real. While some of us may have a propensity toward certain vices that do not affect others in the same way, we are all in the same boat. Even the apostle Paul called himself "the chief of sinners." There is no room for finger-pointing. As someone observed, the moment we point our finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at us.

The ramifications of the "sin problem" are huge in the work world. Although Colonel Sanders' recipe is an exception, not every recipe concocted in secret is good for business.

Fortune magazine named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. What Fortune apparently did not know, was that Enron was more "innovative" than anyone imagined! Enron's "success" was sustained by an elaborate, creative and fraudulent form of accounting. This huge company, which employed 22,000 people, went bankrupt in 2001. In response, Congress enacted the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in an attempt to keep such frauds from occurring in the future.

While accountability measures for the corporate world may be enacted by Congress, such legislation is ineffective when it comes to "personal secrets." The kind of secrets that don't even make it to the back room.

In the work world, safeguards are frequently put in place to discourage people from making bad choices. Requiring two signers on checks, having an independent auditor examine the books once a year, and turning in receipts with requests for personal reimbursements are common safeguards.

While such company policies are necessary, the most effective form of accountability is the self-imposed kind. No matter how many policies a business may put in place, there is no way to have a system of accountability that addresses every possibility for "going astray." The only system that can address it all is the system inside.

In their zeal to transform Geneva from "the smelliest city in Europe" to "a city set on a hill," the Reformers approached accountability in ways that produced unintended consequences that were...well...less than aromatic.

Self-imposed accountability, on the other hand, smells ambrosial.

More to come.

Weird Behavior On The Part Of All Concerned

2011-02-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

A close look at Geneva of the sixteenth century should include an assessment of the Reformers' approached to the third main principle they used in rebuilding the city: Accountability.

Accountability is a powerful means for affecting transformation of places and people. Without it, good ideas often remain nothing more than "good ideas." Accountabitily is healthy, when handled properly. Often it is necessary.

This was why the Reformers designed a civil system in Geneva that divided power among three separate branches: the executive, legislative and judicial. [No, the Americans did not invent this.] The pattern of civil government designed for Geneva influenced the later development of Swiss federalism, which divided power between the national government and its various states (or cantons).

"The Swiss system of federalism," writes Bloomer, "provided the model for the Americans who designed their government in the late eighteenth century, since they also mistrusted an all-powerful central government because of their experience with the King of England. Albert Gallatin, who actually wrote much of the American constitution while working for Thomas Jefferson, was born and educated in Geneva."

While there are many positive things about the Reformers' application of biblical truth to the city-state of Geneva, things went sideways when it came to the matter of personal accountability.

Thomas Bloomer tells of one individual in Geneva who was punished because he (or she) would not convert to Christianity. (Whoops!) In addition, Bloomer notes, "neighborhood tribunals" set up to help families, actually "demonstrated the negative effects of the church overstepping its bounds and exercising an inappropriate degree of authority in people's personal lives."

Bloomer also notes that accountability in Geneva produced "a rigidity in applying scriptural principles, which led to legalism on external issues like dress or leisure time activities..."

The motivation of Calvin and the Reformers in designing means of accountability, I believe, was right and good. As Bloomer points out, "they knew that any leader or structure that cannot be held accountable will slide inevitably into sin..."

The events of the past decade in the USA that produced the Enron and WorldCom scandals, along with the unregulated derivatives market and the selling of toxic assets leading to the Great Recession we're now in, all illustrate the need for personal and corporate accountability.

But how can safeguards be built into accountability that will keep it from becoming a means of control and manipulation, leading to weird behavior on the part of all concerned?

What are your thoughts on this?

I'll share some of mine next week.

A Builder With Vision Saw An Opportunity

2011-01-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

A biblically-shaped theology of work energized Geneva. "Calvin," writes Bloomer, "taught that your work was your worship...[and] every believer has a holy vocation, not just 'full-time ministers.' For example, if you are a shoemaker, that is your vocation. So you have to work as unto the Lord, since you are presenting that work to him as worship."

As a result of a) God-honoring work, b) the nurturing of family, c) reasonable interest rates, and d) a system of law with accountability, the economic level of Geneva started to rise within the first generation. Years later, Max Weber, the German economist, pointed to Calvin's teaching in Geneva as one of the sources of Western prosperity.

When it came to caring for the poor, such as Protestant refugees, widows, and orphans, a charitable organization was established. But this was no handout program. "Anyone who could work had to work," writes Bloomer [emphasis his], "the poor were considered accountable too...It is said that all Protestant charities have their source in Calvin's organizations in Geneva, since they were copied and adopted in all the Protestant countries."

I don't mean to imply from my recent posts that everything the Reformers did in Geneva was a good model to follow. They made missteps. As Bloomer notes, there were excessive controls, particularly when it came to implementing their third principle for rebuilding the city, the principle of "accountability." (I'll comment on this in later posts.)

To learn more about Calvin and Geneva, read Bloomer's full article. YWAM Publishing (thank you, Warren Walsh) has granted permission to make Bloomer's chapter of His Kingdom Come available as a .pdf document. Click http://www.biblicalworldview.com/Calvin_and_Geneva_Bloomer.pdf.

In Geneva, Calvin and his associates had the rare opportunity of rebuilding "from the bottom up." The city was broken. Yet in this seemingly hopeless vacuum, a builder with vision saw an opportunity to create something extraordinary from the ground floor. And he took this opportunity.

Calvin's opportunity came 475 years ago. But--some may ask--are there any opportunities to build communities from the ground up today?

As a matter of fact, there are such opportunities! Consider the work of Agros International in Central America. Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15FYwdy3to

Back to Geneva next week.

One Of The Long-Term Sources Of Switzerland's Prosperity

2011-01-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

John Calvin dedicated most of his adult life to rebuilding Geneva from the ground up, on biblical foundations. Thomas Bloomer maintains that "Calvin wasn't always right in the way he saw things, but his noble attempt to rebuild the city on biblical foundations was history-making, and the first outside of Israel."*

One of the three principles upon which Calvin rebuilt Geneva was the practice of regular teaching on how to rightly work within one's "sphere" of responsibility.

While the first principle upon which Calvin and the Reformers rebuilt Geneva (that is, a personal relationship with Christ is necessary) is understood and practiced by most "Bible-believing" churches today, the second principle (that is, teaching how to live, how to govern, and how to work) is only partially practiced today.

I say 'partially practiced' because while serious instruction on how to live in the realms of marriage, parenting, personal finances, general leadership skills, and missions is readily available, serious instruction on how to govern (cities, states, or nations), and how to work (for Boeing, Microsoft or Starbucks) is off the radar.

Not so with Pastor Calvin and his fellow Reformers. They got specific.

"Calvin told the bankers," notes Bloomer, "they couldn't charge high interest rates, as that was the sin of usury in the Bible. He fixed the interest rates at 4 percent so that the bankers could have a fair return on their money, but people could still afford to borrow and invest. The 4 percent interest rate lasted for four centuries in Switzerland, and this practice was one of the long-term sources of Switzerland's prosperity."

Why would the Reformers be concerned about banking practices? Because they believed all work was to be done as "unto the Lord," and any work that violated Scripture was in need of a-d-j-u-s-t-m-e-n-t.

Remarkably, the Protestants of Geneva wanted to adjust. Bloomer notes that people coming to the city-state desired to "live the Reformation," and put the teaching of the Reformers into action.

Calvin's theology of work was a centerpiece. It was where the rubber of the citizens really met the city road.

Imagine: what might happen today if theology of work was on the shortlist of essential topics receiving in-depth attention by the Church and Christian schools?

Comments?

*Thomas Bloomer, Calvin and Geneva: Nation-Building Missions, in His Kingdom Come (YWAM Publishing).

He Was 27 Years Old

2011-01-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

He was 27 years old when John Calvin was convinced by William Farel to come and rebuild the socially, economically, and spiritually broken city of Geneva. Three years later, the city authorities recognized Calvin as head pastor of the city.

"As the word went out that John Calvin had been named the head pastor of Geneva," writes Thomas Bloomer, "Protestants all over Europe were electrified. He was well known because of the Institutes [Calvin's book on theology], and people knew that his ministry in Geneva could be a historic opportunity."*

A historic opportunity, Bloomer notes, "in that the deeply entrenched social order of church and nobility had been torn down, so in that vacuum there was a unique opportunity for the Reformers to rebuild a city on biblical foundations."

The city of Geneva became a model of Reformation theology in practice. "This small city-state," relates Bloomer, "was the laboratory, the pilot project, for the vision of a nation built on biblical principles and living in peace, prosperity, and righteousness."

Once called "the smelliest city of Europe," Geneva became known as "the city set on a hill." The population doubled from five thousand to ten thousand, as it became a city of refuge for persecuted Protestants.

John Knox came to Geneva and studied what Calvin was doing there. He later took what he learned back to Scotland. Puritan England was also influenced by Geneva, and eventually this influence spread to North America.

What exactly did Calvin and his fellow Reformers do in Geneva?

Bloomer identifies three principles upon which the Reformers rebuilt the city:

1. Public Preaching of the Gospel: "...so that people would be saved and start to be transformed, and the church would be restored to biblical purity."

2. Systematic Daily and Long-Term Teaching: "...so that people would know how to live, the authorities would know how to govern, and all would know how to work in their different spheres."

3. Accountability: "...so that the teaching would not just be theoretical but applied in all areas of life."

A well-articulated theology of work undergirded the transformaion of Geneva. Calvin taught that a "holy vocation" included the work of the banker, the shoemaker, and the pastor. He saw all legitimate work as legitimate worship.

More to come.

*Thomas Bloomer, Calvin and Geneva: Nation-Building Missions, in His Kingdom Come (YWAM Publishing).

"May God Curse You And Your Studies..."

2011-01-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

When the city electors voted unanimously to make Geneva a Reformed Protestant city in 1535, several culture-shaping initiatives were set in motion.

One initiative was that every child would be taught to read. This was something new.

"This commitment," writes Thomas Bloomer, "was the result of their theology that each person was created in the image of God and that each one could be in relationship with God directly and only needed to read the Bible to know how that was supposed to work. This was a real first in the history of the world--all children of a nation being taught to read, even the girls." *

Bloomer maintains, "literacy for all is a biblical idea." What happened in Geneva underscores the fact that worldviews determine values that influence behavior and shape culture. There is a reason why some cultures do not educate girls. And there is a reason why Christianity promotes literacy for all.

And because city leaders believed the basis for rebuilding Geneva was "individual conversion so that the population would put its trust in God," preaching the gospel became a priority.

"The French Reformers," writes Bloomer, "believed that every adult had to make a personal commitment to Christ to be saved. To ensure that every person had a chance to respond to Christ, there was a sustained, ongoing effort for many years to proclaim the gospel, even in the streets and marketplaces."

As more and more citizens came into personal relationship with Christ, it became evident that further teaching was necessary, "so that people would know how to live, the authorities would know how to govern, and all would know how to work in their different spheres."

To fill this need, William Farel--the evangelist once booted out of town, prior to the city's changes--sought out John Calvin.

In effect, Farel asked Calvin to come apply the theology he wrote about in Institutes of Religion to Geneva.

Did I say asked? To be accurate, Farel's words were: "May God curse you and your studies if you do not join me here in the work He has called you to!"

Calvin, "gave the rest of his life so that Geneva would be a city that was as biblically based as possible."

What does this mean?

Stay tuned.

*From Thomas Bloomer's, Calvin and Geneva: Nation-Building Missions, in His Kingdom Come (YWAM Publishing).

The Smelliest City Of Europe

2010-12-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

As we continue our look at the transformational effects of applied Christianity on cities and countries, we would be remiss if we didn't look at the history of Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr. Lowell Bakke, a Professor at Bakke Graduate University, once told me the godlessness of the world system thrives because Christians are not “engaging ethically, morally and courageously in their spheres of influence.”

The flip-side is also true. When followers of Christ do engage ethically, morally and courageously in their spheres of influence, the godlessness of the world system does not thrive.

Consider Geneva of the 1500's.

Thomas Bloomer wrote an insightful piece about the spiritual, economic and social history of that city in Calvin and Geneva: Nation-Building Missions. It appears in the excellent book, His Kingdom Come: An Integrated Approach to Discipling the Nations and Fulfilling the Great Commission, published by YWAM Publishing.

Bloomer relates that in the early 1500's, Geneva was called the smelliest city of Europe. The walls of the city had fallen into disrepair, the people were poor, and families were falling apart.

The condition of the church was also in great disrepair. Priests operated houses of prostitution, and they were immoral themselves. The voice of the church had lost its authority. The people ran the bishop of Geneva out of town in 1530, and most of the city's nobles left with him.

Geneva was in spiritual, economic and social crisis.

William Farel, a fiery French evangelist, came to Geneva in 1531. While preaching in the marketplace from atop one of the market tables, he cried out, "We must reform the church in order to reform the nation!" Bloomer writes: "That offended the authorities so much they arrested him and then kicked him out of town."

But around that time, something significant took place in Geneva: "Businessmen [emphasis mine] whose salvation was rooted in the Reformation had migrated to the city; they began small groups to meet for study and prayer."

The city leadership was taken up by new leaders who subscribed to "the simplicity and disciplined lifestyles of the Protestant reformers," as Bloomer puts it.

On the 26th of August, 1535, the electors of the city voted unanimously, and courageously, to proclaim Geneva a Reformed Protestant city. Courageously, because in 1535, as Bloomer notes, "they were risking excommunication and eternal damnation."

The ramifications of this decision were enormous.

To be continued...

The Greatest Christmas Gift

2010-12-24T04:00:00.001-08:00

[This post first appeared December 25, 2009.]

One of my favorite carols is Joy To The World. The words are by Issac Watts, based on Psalm 98:

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth; make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth, with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

Some people say Joy To The World is not about the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. They say it is about His second coming, not His first. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World.)

The joy that is sung about, then, is a future joy that will occur when Christ returns, to “make the nations prove the glories of His righteousness,” in that full expression of His Kingdom-yet-to-come.

But for me, the song makes sense as a celebration of the first coming of Christ in Bethlehem.

While I’m looking forward to that full and perfect expression of Christ’s Kingdom-yet-to-come, I’m also celebrating the Kingdom-already-here! Jesus is Lord of all. Today! Not just in the future, but in this present moment (Acts 2:36; 10:36).

No, the Kingdom of God isn't fully recognized yet, or perfectly functional right now. This will happen when Christ comes the second time. But the domain over which Christ is King (that is, His King-domain) presently includes both Heaven and Earth!

This is the greatest Christmas gift: Christ the King has come “to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.” Right now.

Our Savior came to make His blessings to flow through carpenters, cops and CEOs who are reconciled to God, and reconciling all things to Him, including their work things!

That's the idea behind Christ's coming in the first place. See II Cor. 5:17-20 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=II%20Cor.%205:17-20&version=NIV and Col. 1:17-20 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Col.%201:17-20&version=NIV.

So, no more let thorns infest the ground. By God's amazing grace, put your work gloves on, go to your workplace after the Christmas holiday and start pulling up bramble bushes--and planting redwood trees.

Joy to the Earth! the Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy!
Merry Christmas.

The Kingdom Is Much Larger Than The Soul

2010-12-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

If government and business leaders of a particular city or nation were to view Christianity as a catalyst for economic development, stability, and job creation, do you think it might increase the probability that Christianity would be welcomed by those leaders?

Let me pose the question differently: If civil and business leaders of a particular city or nation were to see Christianity as a personal, private affair, concerned primarily with the salvation of souls and the after-life, would this increase the probability that Christianity would not be taken seriously by those leaders?

I think so. On both counts.

I've been asking why Christianity has a positive effect on the development of some places and little effect on others. As one put it, "Why are some cities that have been Christianized and churched, like Lagos, Nigeria, still full of poverty and corruption?"

Part of the answer lies in how the terms "Christianized" and "churched" are defined.

In some places, "Christianization" has produced a withdrawal of Christians from this present world. The "Gospel" (so-called) has produced Christians with no real interest in the way business is done, or how civil affairs are managed.

Dr. Darrell Furgason observed: “In places like Africa...Western missionaries generally brought the Gospel in the way they learned it, as a purely soul-saving faith, with no real bearing on anything else—religion was a mostly personal matter, nothing to do with things like politics, science, law, economics….African people were given the Gospel, but not how to build a righteous nation, how to apply Christianity to everything."

As I heard one African educator say: "Africans have understood the Gospel of Salvation, but not the Gospel of the Kingdom."

The Gospel of Salvation points people to becoming born-again believers through faith in Christ's shed blood. Through this amazing door we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, and this is the beginning.

But the Gospel of the Kingdom helps people understand what salvation is for. We are not just saved from something, but for something!

The Gospel of Salvation is part of the Gospel of the Kingdom, not the whole. The Kingdom is much larger than the soul.

One of the best descriptions I've heard on this topic is by Paul Stevens, author of The Other Six Days. Please watch this 2 minute, 53 second segment of an interview I did with him a few years back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VitIItMXKc0

A Message For The Here-And-Now

2010-12-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Why does Christianity have more of an effect upon some cities and countries than others?

Only God knows the full answer, but I'll venture a few possibilities.

My first thought is this: Christianity seems to have a greater effect on some individuals than on others. Doesn't it?

Why is this the case?

I suspect it might have something to do with the willingness of a particular person to undergo changes initiated by the Holy Spirit, the pull of past experiences, Christian teachings that are embraced, relationships with others, and the way a person is "wired" from the womb.

In a similar way, I suspect that the culture, character and history of a particular city or country where Christianity is "planted" affects the way it expresses itself.

In Korea, for example, Christianity was "planted" in a culture with a long history of Confucian influence. Some aspects of Confucianism were abandoned by Korean Christians (such as ancestor veneration), but I have spoken with Christians in Korea who tell me certain continuing influences of Confucianism on Christianity are negative. Yet, according to Dr. Kirsteen Kim whose research I highlighted a couple of weeks ago, other aspects of Confucianism complement Christianity, and were "revitalized" by early Korean Christians.

Confucianism, for example, has a high regard for education and scholarship. This may help explain the rise of Christian schools in Korea. "Within 25 years of their inception [in 1885]," writes Dr. Joseph Kim, a leader in today's Korean Christian school movement, "the Christian schools became the engine of social change and transformation. It is interesting to note that the Christian schools in Korea were flourishing nearly 50 years before such a movement even began in the United States." By 1910, there were 800 Christian schools serving 41,000 Korean students!

"In an environment antagonistic to Christianity [in the nineteenth century]," writes Joseph Kim, "it was the Christian schools that took the gospel to scores of young people and trained them with a biblical worldview. These schools provided the Korean church and the nation with well-trained Christian leaders." [Read Dr. Kim's full article at http://acsi.org/Resources/PublicationsNewsletters/ChristianSchoolEducation/tabid/681/itemId/3221/Default.aspx]

Another factor behind Christianity's influence on Korean modernization is that early Korean Christians saw Christianity as a message for the here-and-now, not just for the life-thereafter.

I'll pick up from here next week.

Why Do Some Places That Have Been "Christianized and Churched" Remain Corrupt?

2010-12-03T04:00:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine sent me the following message: "[Your blog] raises a very interesting issue. Is corruption thriving because of the godlessness of the world systems, or is it thriving because of the lack of Christians engaging ethically, morally and courageously in their spears of influence. Who has the most influence…a little sin…or a little mustard seed of faith?"

He went on to quote a Jamaican Christian leader we both know and respect who made the following observation: “What do Kingston (Jamaica), Manila (Philippines) and Lagos (Nigeria) all have in common? They are the three most Christianized and churched cities in their parts of the world and are also the three most corrupt, crime ridden cultures in their parts of the world. I am not sure we can blame corruption on those outside the faith or those with no faith at all, as much as we can blame it on 'Godless' living out of truth and morality by those who call Christ Lord.”

My friend then added this sobering remark: "A couple of years ago, three of the seven or nine finance ministers in Nigeria were brought up on corruption charges and lost their government positions. All three were evangelical pastors."

Sobering indeed.

It is easy to look at the broken-down economy of Eastern Europe and connect it with several generations of Godless ideology. It is easy to look at the poverty of India and connect it with the effects of Hinduism, or to connect the robust development of South Korea with the growth of Christianity there. But why do some places that have been "Christianized and churched" remain corrupt?

I have only been to Kenya twice, and I'm in no position to criticize that country. What I found interesting, is that Christian music is played over the public address system inside the Nairobi International Airport, and churches are ubiquitous. A friend of mine who works in Kenya tells me the government council meetings in his area open with prayer. Yet, corruption in government and business is commonplace, and poverty abounds.

Why is it that in some places that have been "Christianized and churched," we do not see the kind of effects of Christianity that occurred in India following the Wesleyan revival, or in Wenzhou, China, today?

A penny for your thoughts!

Christianity Is Not A Private Affair

2010-11-26T04:00:00.001-08:00

Greetings from Seoul, South Korea.

Immediately following the Korean War, North and South Korea shared one thing in common: they were among the poorest countries in the world.

56 years later, the International Monetary Fund listed South Korea as having the 12th largest Gross Domestic Product in the world. South Korea, a small country, came out ahead of Canada, ahead of Australia, ahead of Saudi Arabia and ahead of 165 other countries.

In 1910, only about 1% of the Korean population was Christian. By 2005 (95 years later), the number of Christians had risen to 29.2%, and Christianity replaced Buddhism as the most prominent faith among all citizens.

Korea is second only to the United States in the number of missionaries it sends overseas.

Many people have wondered if there is a relationship between the growth of Christianity and the impressive growth of the Korean economy since 1970, when the bulk of economic growth occurred. During this time, the population of Korean Christians rose from about 6% to nearly 30%.

Dr. Kirsteen Kim, former resident of Korea now teaching at Leeds Trinity University College in England, maintains that the connection between Korean development and Christianity goes back to well over a century of Christian influence in politics, education, human rights and service to the suffering in Korea.

Three of today's top five universities in Korea were founded by Korean Christians, and many hospitals were established by Korean believers. With respect to politics, Kim notes that Koreans in the nineteenth century acted on the belief that "Christianity would help revitalize the nation."

"The main contribution of Christianity," she asserts, "was to stimulate new visions and inject a new energy that enabled Koreans to transform their existing situation and revitalise--or redeem--their society."

Historically, early Korean Christians operated on the premise that Christianity is not a private affair, concerned only with the salvation of individual souls. They saw it is a message of transformation that applied corporately as well as individually. This belief, put into action, invigorated early Korean development.

In her paper, "Christianity and modernization in twentieth-century Korea: perspectives on new religious movements and the revitalization of society," Kim sites examples of Korean Christianity as "a revitalizing force that inspired Korean activity toward development."

Kim's research paper is at http://www.bezinningscentrum.nl/Religion_Development/kirsteen.pdf.

The Rise Of Christianity In Korea

2010-11-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

Next week I will be in Seoul, South Korea, teaching at the International Christian Educators Conference hosted by the Association of Christian Schools International.

My instruction will focus on: 1) the creation of lesson plans that connect academic subject matter with the bigger picture of a biblical worldview, and 2) making connections between the biblical worldview and everyday work.

I hope to persuade Christian educators in Asia that "theology of work" should be part of every Christian school, no matter in what culture that school finds itself.

One might think that theology of work (or, "integration of faith and work") would already be a part of every Christian school curriculum in the world. But, amazingly, it is not.

I know from personal experience that theology of work is absent from American Christian schools because I was the principal of a Christian school for fourteen years. It never occurred to me to offer such instruction, and none of my fellow principals offered it either.

This is not surprising, however, since theology of work has fallen off the radar screen of most churches, too. This is regrettable, since it was once very much on the radar in this country. (See "The Missing Curriculum" at http://www.biblicalworldview.com/The%20Missing%20Curriculum%20Article.pdf.)

I am aware that the "Sunday-Monday Gap" exists in Korea, too. Yet, I have wondered if there is a relationship between the economic development of South Korea and the rise of Christianity in Korea.

As mentioned last week, some Chinese scholars have concluded that the moral foundation of Christianity is what made possible "the emergence of capitalism and the successful transition to democratic politics" in the West.

But what do scholars have to say about South Korea in this regard? Is there any connection between Christianity and the fact that this small country had the 12th largest GDP in the world in 2009?

One scholar who has researched the effects of Christianity on Korea thinks so. Her name is Dr. Kirsteen Kim, a member of the Lausanne Theology Working Group who teaches at Leeds Trinity University College in the UK.

I'll share some of her findings next week.

The Amazing Conclusion Of Chinese Scholars

2010-11-12T04:00:00.001-08:00

It is one thing to point back to the positive effects of the Wesleyan revival upon business in India some 250 years ago, but can we point to examples of the positive effects of Christianity upon business today?

While you might be thinking of Christ-honoring companies in your own state, or business owners in your own city who are successfully integrating Christian faith with their work, there is a distant part of the world that most of us don't usually associate with the integration of Christan faith and business: China.

In the September 23, 2010, issue of BreakPoint, Chuck Colson highlights an article from the BBC by Christopher Landau.

Colson reports: "The Chinese government is studying the impact of Christian entrepreneurs and Christian-run businesses. A professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told Landau that it's clear to him that the growth of Christianity and economic prosperity are taking place simultaneously in Wenzhou--a city deeply influenced by Christian missionaries in the past."

Landau's article includes an interview with Weng-Jen Wau, owner of an industrial valve company in Wenzhou who is an openly committed Christian. Colson relates: "The factory owner is also quite open about another fact: When it comes to hiring, he would choose Christians over non-Christians every time--because he thinks they make better workers." (Regrettably, this is not always said about American Christian workers. But that is a topic for later.)

Colson goes on to reference Rodney Stark, in The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. Colson writes: "Amazingly enough, at the end of his book, Stark quotes a published statement by Chinese scholars, who said they had no doubt that Christianity is the source of Western prosperity!"

Here is the amazing conclusion of Chinese scholars: "The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and the successful transition to democratic politics."

Colson concludes: "The simultaneous rise of Christian faith and economic success in China is just one piece of evidence that worldview matters. And that the Christian worldview, above all others, allows us to thrive in--and make sense of--the world we live in."

Please view a 2.5 minute video that Colson did for Worldview Matters in which he explains the critical link between the biblical worldview and work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhBpl4J1NEM&feature=player_embedded

To subscribe to Colson's BreakPoint, go to: http://www.breakpoint.org/resources/subscribe-to-bp

The Anti-Virus Program Has Been Uninstalled

2010-11-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

"The West is like a computer from which the anti-virus program, the gospel, has been uninstalled," writes Vishal Mangalwadi in Truth and Transformation.

Mangalwadi understands the significance of "uninstallation." His country, India, experienced the benefits of the anti-virus program for about 150 years. But when the anti-virus program was removed, negative consequences were far-reaching.

British rule in Bengal began in 1757. The British East India Company came to India to make money. British governmental leaders took bribes, and corruption was rampant.

"British corruption," Mangalwadi writes, "destroyed Bengal's economy and became a factor in the death of several million people in the famine of 1769-70."

But then something remarkable happened.

The Wesleyan revival, birthed through John Wesley (1703-1791), produced British leaders like William Wilberforce, who saw the gospel as something more than a private, personal religion. They saw it as having enormous ramifications for whole societies.

The abolishment of slavery was not the only outcome. "Following the Wesleyan revival in England," writes Mangalwadi, "the British evangelicals transformed their government in India."

Mangalwadi credits Charles Grant, who, in the 1770s and early 80s, campaigned to give India "a philosophical basis for moral absolutes....via evangelization."

The effect of Grant's campaign was a significant transformation of Indian government and business. So much so, writes Mangalwadi, that "in 1947, independent India and Pakistan received clean, although not perfect, administrations."

"During the nineteenth century," he writes, "British evangelicals succeeded in transforming England and their government in India because they believed in a different God. Their God used his power not to oppress and extort, but to serve..."

Mangalwadi also credits Charles Trevelyan, who risked his life to expose corruption in business and public life in India.

But after Independence in 1947, Mangalwadi laments, "we have not seen secular or Hindu civil servants take heroic personal risks to fight corruption."

Why?

Because the worldview that inspired Trevelyan and Grant has been "uninstalled."

While the biblical worldview had a profound effect on India for more than a century, "in the last sixty years," writes Managlwadi, "corruption has grown exponentially."

The anti-virus program has been uninstalled in England, too, and is currently being uninstalled in America.

Proverbs 14:34 says, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

Mangalwadi asserts, "What the gospel did for England and India once, it can do again."

For America, too.

But will we let it?

The Product of Both Hinduism and Secularism

2010-10-29T04:01:00.000-07:00

Could Secularism and Hinduism both lead down the same economic road?

Vishal Mangalwadi, an Indian follower of Christ, says, "Yes."

In his book, Truth and Transformation, he explains that moral relativism leading to corruption and poverty is the product of both Hinduism and Secularism.

Why?

Because both worldviews reject the idea of a rational, transcendent God who has said, "You shall not steal," or, "You shall not covet," and to whom all people in every walk of life are equally accountable.

In Hinduism, there is no "Higher Law" that applies equally to all people, because there is no Higher Lawgiver. Hinduism teaches that we are all gods. Therefore, there can be no source of morality other than that which various groups create for themselves. This can only lead to different moral standards for different people.

The so-called "upper casts" in India, Mangalwadi explains, have practiced moral relativism for years. The result is rampant corruption, with upper casts stealing from lower casts with no consequence or shame. Because of this corruption, poverty abounds in India.

"Growing mangoes or guavas alone," writes Mangalwadi, "could lift whole families out of poverty [in India]. But if hardworking peasants grew good mangoes and guavas, the higher castes would come and take them..."

"Why?" asks Mangalwadi. "Because there is no God who has said, 'You shall not covet your neighbor's [mangoes]'..."

The net effect of Secularism [there is no God] and Hinduism [everything is "God"] is the same, because morality in both Hinduism and Secularism can be nothing more than mere human convention. "Morality" depends on who makes the rules and has power to implement them.

In Secularism, it can boil down to a 51% vote [the tyranny of the majority], or to a Wall Street investment firm making its own rules, bent on profit at any cost.

Magalwadi states: "Postmodern relativism, like my traditional culture says, 'Yes, it is wrong for you to do so, but it is not wrong for us, because we make the rules and have the power to enforce them."

"The West," writes Mangalwadi, "is becoming corrupt like us because it is developing a 'new spirituality' without [authentic] morality. This new spirituality is no different than our old spirituality."

To learn more, read Truth and Transformation.

You may order it at http://www.biblicalworldview.com/bookstore.html.

The Connection Between Failing Economies and Faulty Worldviews

2010-10-22T04:00:00.001-07:00

"Economists know that corruption causes poverty," writes Vishal Mangalwadi in Truth and Transformation, "but they lack intellectual framework and spiritual resources to help corrupt nations ask tough cultural questions: Why are the Dutch or the English able to trust each other in a way that the Indians or Egyptians cannot? What makes some cultures more honest, less corrupt, more trustworthy, and therefore more prosperous?"

Mangalwadi contends that the "secret" of the West's success is morality that allows people to trust one another with the kind of trust essential to business and industry.

He says this kind of trust-producing morality is unique to societies having a Christian belief in a rational, personal God who has spoken to humanity through the Bible, clarifying right and wrong, and to whom everyone is equally accountable for their actions.

Mangalwadi believes acceptance of this Truth, and its subsequent application to business and industry, was fundamental to the success of Western economy.

But Mangalwadi's next question is important: "If moral integrity is foundational to prosperity, why don't secular experts talk about it [today]?"

His answer is straightforward: "Economists have lost the secret of the West's success because philosophers have lost the very idea of truth."

"The truth was lost," he says, "because of an intellectual arrogance that rejected divine revelation and tried to discover truth with the human mind alone."

Mangalwadi does a masterful job in Truth and Transformation tracing the connection between failing economies and faulty worldviews.

Mangalwadi's work is particularly relevant to the economic meltdown of 2008, and to real hope for long-term recovery. Simply put, the world experienced a financial meltdown because the West has exchanged the worldview of the Bible for a different worldview. A worldview that is as harmful to the economy in America as Hinduism is to the economy in India: the worldview of Secularism.

Through the philosophy of Western atheists such as David Hume (1711-1776), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), the West gradually came to believe that either the God of the Bible does not exist--or is irrelevant (just as debilitating).

Whether God is absent or irrelevant, the effects of Secularism on business and industry are titanic.

Furthermore, Mangalwadi contents, Secularism is leading America down the same road to poverty that Hinduism led India.

Same road as Hinduism?!?

Stay tuned.

The "Floundering Secret" of the West's Success

2010-10-15T04:00:00.001-07:00

In Truth and Transformation, Indian Christian author Vishal Mangalwadi relates an experience he had in Amsterdam.

He wanted to buy a bus day-pass from a machine. But the instructions on the machine were in Dutch. Two young women visiting from America were standing nearby, and Dr. Mangalwadi asked how to get tickets from the machine.

The women said they had been riding around Amsterdam for a week, and no one checked for tickets. "Why do you want to get tickets?" they asked.

Mangalwadi writes: "Their shamelessness shocked me more than their immorality. They represented the new generation, liberated from 'arbitrary' and 'oppressive' religious ideas of right and wrong. University education had freed them from commandments such as 'You shall not steal.'

'It is wonderful,' I said to them, 'that there are enough commuters who pay so that the system can carry some who don't. Once your schools succeed in producing enough clever commuters, your country will catch up with mine [India]. You will have to have ticket inspectors on every bus and have super-inspectors to spy on the inspectors. Everyone will then have to pay more. But corruption won't remain confined to the consumers; it is a cancer that will infect politicians, bureaucrats, managers, operators, and the maintenance staff. They will take kickbacks, commissions, and bribes to use substandard parts and service. Soon your public transport will resemble ours: frequent breakdowns will slow down not only the transport system but also your roads, efficiency and economy.'"

Mangalwadi says morality is the "floundering secret" of the West's success.

Our economic system rests upon trust. Trust that people at the other end of a business deal will be honest, will pay, or deliver quality goods, and will not misappropriate funds, bribe or extort.

"Where did this morality come from?" asks Mangalwadi. "Why isn't my society [in India] equally trustworthy?"

Mangalwadi maintains that the kind of trust which made the West successful was possible only because a preponderance of people accepted the Judeo-Christian belief that there is a rational, personal God above us all, who sees all, and has clarified moral standards applying equally to everyone (such as "You shall not steal"). Living in accordance with His standards is "right," and acting against them is "wrong."

It isn't rocket science.

But today's economic pundits and political experts no longer talk about this "secret."

Why?

To be continued.

Truth and Transformation

2010-10-08T04:00:00.001-07:00

Americans are in a "throw the bums out" mood. There seems to be a lot of anger about the "broken system." Our economy is not the only thing broken. Congress seems to be broken too.

But I'm more disturbed about the cause of the breakdowns than the breakdowns themselves. The breakdowns could turn out to be a blessing, if they are instrumental in waking us up to the cause.

Such an awakening would be miraculous, and this is the way it must be. For the kind of awakening we need can only happen through a move of God.

Vishal Mangalwadi, in his remarkable book, Truth and Transformation, writes: "Roots of corruption go deeper than individual leaders and regimes. Dethroning leaders or smashing 'the system' rarely does lasting good...Ultimately it is our inner life--our assumptions, values, worldview, desires, emotion, and attitudes--as well as our relationships, that need to be transformed."

Such inner transformation, Mangalwadi contends, only happens when people embrace the Truth revealed in a Book the West no longer takes seriously: the Bible.

If you only read one book this year besides the Bible, let it be Truth and Transformation. Some books are worth reading multiple times, and this is one of them. I have read it twice, so far. Chuck Colson calls Truth and Transformation a tour de force, and he doesn't use that description flippantly.

What makes Mangalwadi's work especially powerful is that it was written by a man born and raised in India. As a result, he sees more clearly than Westerners that we are throwing away the very foundation of our health and wellness--economic and otherwise.

In essence, Mangalwadi is saying to the West: Have you lost your mind? What are you doing?! Don't you realize what authentic Christianity has done for you and your society?

His writing is a plea from one who knows from personal experience in India what can happen when a society rejects Truth. His life was threatened (more than once), he was put in jail, and his parents were beaten because of decisions they made to live according to Truth.

I want to spend a few weeks on Mangalwadi's work because it has enormous implications for our economy, and for a return to meaning and purpose among followers of Christ in the workplace.

Stay tuned.

It Isn't Just About "Doing The Right Thing"

2010-10-01T04:00:00.001-07:00

In order for God-given standards of morality and ethics to become commonplace in the marketplace, there must be wide-spread acceptance and love for the Divine Person who gave us those standards.

Legislators cannot produce the kind of deep-seated shift that is necessary to put our economic house in order. We cannot fix the fundamental problem by passing laws. Laws don't change hearts.

This does not mean we should not enact good laws. We must. But something much deeper must also take place.

The desire to embrace God's ways in the marketplace does not come naturally to the human heart. It comes from a supernatural work of God's grace.

This work of God's grace produces a compelling love for the One who made us. Without this love, obeying the Lord can easily turn into dead religion, with a burdensome list of rules to keep.

This was a pitfall the ancient Hebrews fell into. But the gift Jesus gave us for keeping this from happening lies in sharing the life of the Holy Spirit, like a vine and branch sharing the same sap.

As a result, we love the Person, not just the Book.

It isn't just about "doing the right thing." It's about loving the right Person.

When we love the right Person, we'll do the right thing. It's the horse that pulls the cart.

Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind...and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets."

If we truly love the Lord, we will love the things He loves. If we love Christ, we will keep His commandments because we want to. If we truly love people, we will gladly behave rightly toward them.

Where does this "want to" come from? It comes from God Himself! We can't crank it up by our own will power.

It is God who gives us the will and the desire to do His good pleasure. See http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%202:13&version=NKJV (Philippians 2:13).

This unmerited grace generates the kind of workplace behavior that is "right"--in a naturally supernatural way.

This is what the saving life of Christ is about, and this is what America isn't getting.

In the long run, it is the only hope for our economy--and everything else.

The Very Meaning Of Liberty

2010-09-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

“In any society, only two forces can hold the sinful nature in check: the restraint of conscience or the restraint of the sword. The less that citizens have of the former, the more the state must employ the latter.”

Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey wrote those words in How Now Shall We Live.

Robert Winthrop (1852) put it this way: "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the Word of God, or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible, or by the bayonet."

In early America, the idea of “self-government under God” summarized the very meaning of liberty.

But today, the American concept of liberty boasts “self-government" while the "under God” part is gone.

As we move increasingly away from recognition of Higher Law, and away from the idea of accountability to a Higher Judge, the less real liberty we have.

Applying this to our economy, the more people participating in our economic system who lack internal control under God, the more need we have for external control under man. Thus the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.

But what will steer the law-givers? What Higher Law will guide their minds and hands? [This is the bigger mess we're now in, and a topic for another day.]

While more external controls are necessary, no amount of legislation can solve the root problem of our economy. That's because the root problem of our economy is not economic. It's spiritual.

To bring ethical behavior into the marketplace, it must be carried into it by individuals who are "controlled by a power within.” Flatly put: we need bankers, lawyers, investment managers and loan officers who bring their love for Christ and voluntary submission to His Word to work with them every day.

This cannot be legislated.

Ken Eldred sums it up in his excellent book, God Is At Work:

“Transformation of culture really starts with the individual…Cultural change is not something that can be imposed at the macro level from the top...Person by person, hearts and minds must be transformed...In short, it is the Holy Spirit working a cultural transformation from the pattern of this world to the pattern of God. The process starts with...a personal relationship with God.”

Things Laws Cannot Fix

2010-09-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Last July, while I was enjoying my blog hiatus, the long-awaited government response to the economic meltdown of 2008 was passed into law by the President. It was a 2,300 page bill, called, the Dodd-Frank Act.

This legislation calls for the establishment of a new federal agency: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Seattle Times wrote: "This new agency is intended to protect the interests of the average Joe. Housed in the Federal Reserve, it is designed to protect consumers from predatory lending, hidden credit-card fees and the like."

The Dodd-Frank Act has been called, "the most sweeping financial reform since the Great Depression." It not only addresses the $615 trillion-dollar over-the-counter "dark market" of derivatives, but other financial concerns, such as mortgage practices, credit-card fees and car loans. For a brief summary of the law's main points, see http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/422/create-new-financial-regulations/.

Some people feel the new law does not go far enough, while others feel it goes too far. That's what debate is all about.

In principle, I am not opposed to government oversight in areas that affect the health and well-being of the general public. As mentioned last week, one of God's purposes for civil government, according to Romans 13, is to reward those who do good and punish those who do evil. This is necessary in a fallen world.

But will the 2010 financial reform act keep us from experiencing future meltdowns?

Senator Christopher Dodd, co-sponsor of the bill, proclaimed: "I regret I can't give you your job back, restore that foreclosed home, put retirement monies back in your account. What I can do is to see to it that we never, ever again go through what this nation has been through."

Never, ever again? No doubt the shapers of post-Depression financial reform had similar thoughts.

Yes, I think the new laws may help solve some problems. They may cause others. But there are things laws cannot fix.

Not even God's laws can change the human heart.

To be continued...

The Fatal Flaw

2010-09-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

A decade before the financial meltdown of 2008, Brooksley Born (Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and Alan Greenspan (Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board) were at loggerheads about whether the multi-trillion dollar market of "derivatives" should be subject to governmental oversight.

Sometimes the State oversteps its bounds. And when it does, things get ugly. But the Bible makes it clear that civil government is appointed by God for a purpose. According to Romans 13, the purpose of civil government is to reward those who do good and to punish those who do evil. Paul tells us civil servants are "God's ministers."

When Alan Greenspan testified before Congress in October of 2008, just after the economic meltdown, he said he "found a flaw" in the way he had previously thought the economic world worked.

In his testimony, Greenspan did not elaborate on the "flaw." But I would like to do so.

The fatal flaw can be boiled down to one word: sin.

A big problem with derivatives is that few people understand how they work. Some derivatives are so complex that the financial institutions using them don't even understand how they work.

When something is that complex, and those who create the instruments don't want to "show their math," you have a disaster in the making.

One reason Brooksley Born smelled a rat is because she was a specialist in derivatives law. She had practiced in that field for 20 years before her clash with Greenspan. She knew what humans are capable of, when given a long enough leash. Worse yet, when there is no leash at all.

When a business that affects the hard-earned dollars of millions of trusting Americans operates in secret, with no accountability whatsoever, it is just too easy for sin to have its sway. The love of money is too powerful for many to resist.

This flaw is greatly magnified in a society that seeks to exclude God from the workplace, limiting Him to private, personal affairs, or to an hour of "spirituality" on Sunday morning.

When people lack the kind of internal control that restrains them from caving in to the love of money, there is a greater need for external control. That's the way life in a fallen world works.

But will external accountability fix the fatal flaw?

More to come...

The Warning

2010-09-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

It is good to be back in the saddle again, after a six-week hiatus from blogging about the intersection of biblical worldview and work.

I look forward to herding the cattle of ideas with you once more! Thanks for riding along side.

Let's start with Brooksley Born's controversial idea that when it comes to large financial institutions handling billions of dollars belonging to millions of trusting, hard-working Americans, doing so with open books and accountability to a governmental agency is a necessity.

Brooksley Born was the Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1996-99. At that time, a decade before the economic meltdown of 2008, Born testified before Congress four times, warning of the dangers of allowing complex financial instruments known as "derivatives" to be bought and sold with absolutely no accountability. It was a multi-trillion dollar "dark market." Very few people even understood how derivatives worked.

Born went up against Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and other powerful voices in Washington who were vehemently opposed to her call for open books. She got pounded.

A decade later, the derivatives that Born and Greenspan were arguing about formed a lion’s share of toxic assets that poisoned our economy, brought us to the brink of financial ruin, and produced the greatest recession since the Great Depression, which may get far worse before it gets better.

Brooksley Born’s story is chronicled in Frontline’s 2009 production, The Warning. It is must viewing. I have posted the trailer as the video of the month (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACkiKVtF3nU). I urge you to view the full story at http://video.pbs.org/video/1302794657/.

I do not believe Greenspan had fraudulent motives. He was opposed to the regulation of financial markets on ideological grounds. He sincerely believed markets totally regulate themselves. That is, those who do well prosper, and those who do poorly fail. The market itself would “clear the transactions.”

After eighteen years leading the Federal Reserve, Greenspan retired in 2006. (Amazing timing.) But he appeared once again before Congress in October of 2008, after the house of cards came tumbling down on all of our heads. At the hearing, the world was stunned to hear Greenspan say he “found a flaw.”

“…I was shocked,” Greenspan said, “because I’ve been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.”

What was the "flaw," and why did "it" stop working exceptionally well?

Stay tuned...

God of Concrete, God of Steel

2010-07-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about work is rest! No rest is sweeter than rest following good hard work. With this in mind, I'll be resting from my blogging for the next six weeks. It is hard to believe I've been at it for nearly a year now. Time flies when you're having fun!

But before I sign off, let me share a few more practical thoughts for pastors.

I'm not big on calender-driven sermons (except at Christmas and Easter), but Labor Day weekend is a good time to focus on work. For the past few years, the church Kathy and I attend (Westminster Chapel, Bellevue, WA) has made the Labor Day service a time to focus on the biblical view of work.

Our Labor Day services have not only contained sermons on work, but also special music, congregational singing, and sharing of congregants' experiences in the integration of faith and work.

Music about the work of human hands is not easy to find. One of the most fascinating pieces of music ever to grace one of our Labor Day services is called, God of Concrete, God of Steel. The title itself tells you this is no ordinary song!

It starts out like this:

God of concrete, God of steel,
God of piston and of wheel,
God of pylon, God of steam,
God of girder and of beam,
God of atom, God of mine:
all the world of power is thine.

Lord of cable, Lord of rail,
Lord of freeway and of mail,
Lord of rocket and of flight,
Lord of soaring satellite,
Lord of lightning's flashing line:
all the world of speed is thine.

Check out the full text by Richard Granville Jones here: http://www.flyingfists.org/archives/003114.html

I'll conclude with three suggestions for sermons on work:

1. Eight sermons by Haddon Robinson, appropriate for a series or as independent messages: http://www.preachingtodaysermons.com/rohabyswofyo.html

2. Larry Peabody's sermon series on Daniel, coinciding with his new book, Job-Shadowing Daniel: Walking the Talk At Work. For more about Larry's book, see http://www.calledintowork.com/resources/. Send Larry a request for information about his "Daniel sermon series" at http://www.calledintowork.com/contact/.

3. More Than A Paycheck, a collection of 24 messages on theology of work, with practical illustrations of faith at work. Includes 50 video clips, 650 PowerPoint slides and the complete speaking notes that I have used when presenting this material myself. Go to http://www.biblicalworldview.com/teach_m_y.html.

See you in September--on Labor Day Weekend!

No Significant Difference Between the Churched and the Unchurched

2010-07-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

In Faith @ Work: What Every Pastor and Church Leader Should Know, Os Hillman refers to a survey conducted for The Wall Street Journal by the Gallup Organization which found "no significant difference between the churched and the unchurched in their ethics and values on the job."

Doug Sherman, co-author of Your Work Matters To God, has said, "Our surveys reveal that 90 to 97 percent of Christians have never heard a sermon relating biblical principles to their work life."

I wonder if there might be a connection between those two findings?

One of the problems is that few seminaries offer training courses for pastors in theology of work. While there are some efforts currently underway to change this, the subject of theology of work is on few radar screens in today's seminaries.

So where can pastors go for guidance in this area? One excellent resource is the Theology of Work Project.

Officially formed in 2007 under the leadership of Dr. Haddon Robinson, the mission of the Theology of Work Project is "to bring together scholars and practitioners in a coalition aimed at building consensus around fundamental truths contained in a Theology of Work.”

Working with biblical scholars, theologians, ethicists, economists, workplace practitioners, and workplace ministers, The TOW Project is currently writing papers on what the Bible itself has to say about fundamental principles related to work.

So far, they have completed studies on Revelation, Colossians and Philemon. Their goal is to produce such studies for every book of the Bible.

The ultimate aim of The TOW Project is "to produce a Theology of Work that is as broadly acceptable as possible, being relevant for every kind of workplace around the world, and meeting the approval of the full spectrum of traditions within the orthodox/historical Christian faith."

The great things is, the writings of The TOW Project are in plain English, so they are understandable not only to theologians, but busy practitioners in the workplace as well.

Check out their study of Colossians/Philemon at http://files.inspyred.com/webfiles/74116/ColossiansPhilemonandWorkLeadArticleapproved2010-01-11.pdf

To learn more about The TOW Project, visit http://www.theologyofwork.org/

Lady Gaga, Steve Jobs and Glenn Beck

2010-07-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

In Time magazine's list of "the world's 100 most influential people" for 2010, you will find Lady Gaga, Steve Jobs and Glenn Beck. You will not find the Pope, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, or any other significant church leader.

While it is true that church leaders don't have as much influence in today's culture as they used to, when it comes to influencing the culture within a local church, nobody carries as much influence as the senior pastor. No hour of the week carries as much weight as the large group meeting of the gathered church. Usually this takes place on Sunday morning, where bulletins are given out, ushers seat people, sermons are preached, and offering plates are passed.

What the senior pastor says and does during the large weekly gathering shapes the culture of the local church like no other voice. That's why I'm convinced senior pastors hold the keys to effective worklife discipleship in the life of any local church.

Last week I mentioned a survey I did of 20 senior pastors in the Seattle area whereby I discovered many pastors are not satisfied with their effectiveness in equipping congregants to influence in the Monday-through-Friday workplace. Many of them want to do a better job in this area.

While I didn't expect to find it, I think I found a clue as to why there is such a gap between the pastor's desire to do see more results in the area of workplace discipleship, and the degree of dissatisfaction many of them feel about how effective they are in this particular arena.

The clue is this: When I asked the pastors how often they gave a Sunday morning message that "dealt primarily with the specific topic of work or work-related issues," I often heard responses like, "every Sunday."

Nearly one-third of the pastors I interviewed told me their sermons applied to "all of life," and therefore they were addressing worklife discipleship in virtually every message.

I couldn't bring myself to pop their bubbles. After all, the purpose of my interviewing was not to comment about their answers. My purpose was to hear what they were thinking.

However, since the desire of most pastors is to be more effective, I do have some thoughts to share along these lines.

To be continued.

The Role Of Pastors

2010-06-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I interviewed 20 pastors in the Seattle area, asking them how they viewed the role of the church in bridging the Sunday-Monday divide.

I discovered that most pastors don't view themselves, or their churches, as being very effective in this particular area.

On a scale of 1-10, I asked each pastor what their level of satisfaction was in how well their churches were doing in equipping congregants to have an influence in the workplace. The average response was 4.58 (10 being the highest). Twelve pastors (60%) gave themselves a 5 or lower. 80% of the responses were 6 or lower.

I was impressed by the humility of those pastors. Many were not pleased with the reality of their particular situations, and it was evident that many wanted things to be better with respect to "worklife discipleship."

If a pastor were to ask me how to improve things in this particular area, I would probably say something like the following (and this may explain why pastors don't ask me this question!):

"Focus more on how you can help your congregants fulfill their roles as participants in the workplace than on what your congregants can do to help you fulfill your role as pastor in the church."

Say what?!

Several years ago, I had a conversation with a school superintendent who told me his pastor encouraged him to see his work in education as a priority over what was going on within the four walls of his church.

I remember thinking how unusual this was! In my entire life, I had never heard anyone say such a thing about his or her pastor.

Why?

Now, please don't read what I'm about to say as a slam on pastors. They need the support of their congregants as much as their congregants need the support of the pastor. But I think most pastors have their eyes fixed more on the church gathered in the building, than on the church scattered in the workplace.

I'm not suggesting it's an "either-or" proposition. I think it's "both-and." But how common is it for a pastor or a church to have a reputation for equipping believers for successful life in the workplace, in the truest sense of the word "success"?

My friend's pastor was Lowell Bakke. Please take 2.5 minutes to hear Lowell share his views on the role of pastors in the church: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk8Vw-c1Bzc&feature=player_embedded

Out On The Playing Field

2010-06-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

How can a church help congregants to cultivate a God-centered approach to the workplace?

Before I answer my own question, let me distinguish between the church gathered and the church scattered.

When I ask, "How can a church help congregants to cultivate a God-centered approach to work," I'm first thinking about how the church gathered might do this.

I'm coming at this question with the fundamental understanding that the purpose of the church gathered on Sunday is to prepare, equip and encourage the body of Christ to be effective as the church scattered throughout the city on Monday through Saturday.

Whether or not this is what every pastor sees as the purpose of the church is another question. Perhaps you've heard the statement, "The most important thing happening this week in our city is what's happening right now, here in this sanctuary!"

Dr. Vic Pentz, Senior Pastor of Peachtree Presbyterian, in Atlanta, used to see it that way. But no longer. In fact, he says he doesn't even believe it any more.

Does this sound like he has lost his mind? Take 1 minute and 16 seconds to hear Pastor Pentz explain himself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YboJIUVm8Cc

Can the gathering of a church with its pastor on Sunday be likened to the players of a football team gathering at half-time in the locker room with the coach before returning to the playing field again?

While the analogy isn't perfect (there's more to the church gathered than the pastor's message), I think Pastor Pentz is on to something significant.

Of course the 'playing field' is more than a person's workplace. But since work occupies about 1/2 of a working person's waking hours, it's a pretty important chunk of life.

So what could happen on Sunday that might prepare congregants for engaging in their daily work on Monday as a "sacred task," whether swinging a hammer, driving a truck, running a business, or being a homemaker?

Next week we'll start exploring some specific ways in which a local church can cultivate a God-centered approach to life in the workplace, "out on the playing field."

Come Along Side

2010-06-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

Last week's post ended with two questions:

Do you think the lost art of "God-centered work" can be restored?

If so, how?

Since no one responded, I'm left to answer my own questions! So, here goes...

When I'm involved in a project that requires skills I have never used before, or I'm trying to solve a problem I don't know how to fix, I look for "how to" information.

I appreciate the "_______ for Dummies" books, because they don't assume I know anything. They start from "A" and go to "Z," in an orderly, step-by-step fashion. That's what I like.

I can also Google, "How do I ________" and get a concise answer to just about anything in a nano-second!

But some challenges defy step-by-step solutions, and have no quick fixes. They are too big. Too complex. Like: restoring the lost art of God-centered work in a culture that has excluded Him from public places and relegated Him to "church" (which would have been unthinkable in Jonathan Edwards' day). Fixing such a problem is fully and completely beyond us. And this is a good thing!

Can the lost art of God-centered work be restored? The short answer is, "Yes."

Why do I believe this? Because "with God all things are possible" [Mark 10:27].

But those two little words, "with God," are critically important.

Psalm 127:1 comes to my mind: "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."

When it comes to restoring the lost art of God-centered work in a post-Christian society, it can only happen if it's a "Holy Spirit thing."

Our role in the process is to come along side what the Lord is doing today in this regard.

So how is it possible to "come along side" with respect to restoring a God-centered approach to work in the 21st Century?

In the next few posts, we'll explore some ways we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit to revive a robust "theology of work" in today's culture. Specifically, I'll be looking at ways in which churches, homes, schools and companies can "come along side" in this move of God.

Did I say, "move of God?"

If it isn't, let's pack up and call it a day.

First stop: the church.

The Missing Curriculum: Conclusion

2010-06-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the final installment of an article written for the May-June issue of Home School Enrichment magazine, titled, The Missing Curriculum:

Christ instructs His followers to “occupy” planet Earth until He comes again. This act of occupation takes place in every legitimate field of human endeavor.

It takes place as followers of Christ observe all that He commanded within the realms of business, government, the arts, media, education, and every sphere of legitimate work on this planet.

The degree of corruption we sometimes find in these “earth-tending” spheres may be because Christ-followers have either opted out of them, or we have never realized that we are supposed to observe all that Christ commanded within the context of those kinds of jobs in the first place.

Jonathan Edwards and fellow graduates from Yale, in 1721, would have understood that it is in the workplaces of the world where we have a prime opportunity to “observe all that Christ commanded,” which is the thrust of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20.

It was the so-called “Protestant Work Ethic” that fashioned America into the land of opportunity it quickly became. Yet, today’s “sacred-secular split” has led many Christians to leave their Christianity outside the workplace door on Monday morning.

As a consequence, workplace participants cannot always distinguish Christians from non-Christians in the work-world, and our economy has suffered greatly.

I want to encourage the next generation to play a role in changing this. Will you join me?

The commitment to intentionally and systematically train young people in the “art of God-centered work” has largely disappeared from our churches, schools and homes. The custom of teaching students how to make connections between the biblical worldview and all forms of legitimate labor is no longer customary. It has gone the way of men's powdered wigs.

But it can be restored. I believe we can once again train our young people to see “their shop as well as their chapel as holy ground.”

The white powdered wigs can go. But to equip our sons and daughters with the ability to engage in their everyday work “as the work of God,” is long overdue for a comeback.

For a .pdf copy of the full article from the May-June issue of Home School Enrichment magazine, click this link:
http://www.biblicalworldview.com/The%20Missing%20Curriculum%20Article.pdf

Do you think the lost art of "God-centered work" be restored?

If so, how?

The Missing Curriculum: Part 4

2010-05-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the 4th installment of The Missing Curriculum:

If we embrace the notion that our original job description (The First Commission of Genesis 1:26-28) was rescinded at the Fall, then we will have a very difficult time seeing how one’s shop as well as one’s chapel can be "holy ground."

But what the Puritans seemed to understand so well, is that because “the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and those who dwell therein” (Ps. 24:1), God is still the owner of every pair of shoes in every shoe store in the world, and He claims rights to every customer who walks through the front door.

Because they saw Jesus as “Lord of all” (including all shoes and the selling thereof), they did not divide the world into “sacred” and “secular” compartments. They did not see some work as “secular,” and other work as “sacred.” For them, there was no “secular” world.

No, in Jonathan Edwards day, the merchant was doing “the Lord’s work” as much as the pastor.

If I could be a school principal over again, I would have my students complete a course on “the art and science of God-centered shoe-selling.” I would call it, “More Than A Paycheck.” As a matter of fact, I recently wrote such a curriculum, and I have called it just that!

I’d like the next generation to know that no matter which career paths they might take, whether it be in business, the arts, or homemaking, they will always be working in the Lord’s turf. This is because there is no other place to work! It is all His! He is “head over all” (I Chronicles 29:11).

Further, I’d impress upon them that no matter where we work, our ultimate authority is Christ. We might work in places that ignore the Lordship of Christ, and in some places that deny it, but we will never work in any place that is exempt from it.

Is there any place that lies outside the realm of God’s affairs? Is there any sphere of life’s activity that exists independently of God, on its own, in a vacuum, somehow separated from His ownership, interest and involvement?

Hardly!

I would teach my students that they will never have a “secular” job, because there truly is no “secular” world!

Next week: the conclusion to The Missing Curriculum.

The Missing Curriculum: Part 3

2010-05-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the 3rd installment of The Missing Curriculum:

Work, at its core, is an act of governance. Governance over wood, metal, cows, cotton and carrots. Governance over electrical currents and wind. Governance over fiber optics and digital images. Governance over people. Governance over things. Governance over ideas.

Randy Kilgore, a leader in the current “faith-at-work” movement, says: “God created a world that functions on order, and requires labor for its tending. He created you and me to be a part of that order, to do that labor. Even when our acts at work don’t seem to have eternal significance, their very rendering fulfills His original commission to humans to tend His creation.”

"Creation-tending" is a very big job! Ruling over all the earth entails a responsibility as broad as the world is wide, and requires many varied occupations, including carpentry, high-tech work and homemaking.

It involves physical work (as with Adam tending and keeping the Garden), and mental work (as with Adam naming the animals).

Both kinds of work occurred before the Fall. Work is not a curse! It was the ground that was cursed. Not the work.

It is our great and awesome responsibility as vice-regents over this remarkable planet to govern over God's creation. And we were made in the image of God so that we could carry out this function well. The curse just made this work more difficult.

If the Fall had not occurred, human beings would be involved in all sorts of legitimate businesses, similar to the kinds of businesses we see going on today—sans the sin.

Some people think that when Adam and Eve sinned, they forfeited their role as governors over Earth. Like ambassadors caught in an act of treason, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden and removed from their positions as God’s vice-regents over all the Earth. In this scenario, “earth-tending” could no longer be the job description of human beings.

If this is the case, then we are prisoners on a cursed planet, sent out to wander, spending our days toiling for food. Our work, then, is no longer a way of fulfilling the role that God had in mind for us when He created Adam and Eve: “Let Us make man...and let them rule…over all the earth.”

Beyond providing for our subsistence, our work, then, could no longer have significant purpose.

Next week: Part 4

The Missing Curriculum: Part 2

2010-05-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

The following is the second installment of an article I recently wrote for the May-June issue of Home School Enrichment magazine. The article is titled, The Missing Curriculum:

I was the principal of a Christian school for fourteen years. During those years, it never occurred to me that my school should provide specific instruction for students in the art of God-centered work. Frankly, I did not know there was such a thing as “theology of work,” or anything close to it, that would make up a full curriculum on the topic, as it did in the days of Jonathan Edwards.

For many years, I, like many others, thought only pastors and missionaries did “God-centered work.” I failed to make any connection between selling shoes (which I did part-time while a college student) and the Kingdom of God.

So what does selling shoes have to do with the Kingdom of God?

If we separate the two, we will never understand what the one has to do with the other.

But as the English Puritan Pastor George Swinnock put it, "The pious tradesman will know that his shop as well as his chapel is holy ground."

This is a teaching that we do not often hear today. When was the last time you heard a sermon along the lines that “your shop as well as your chapel is holy ground?”

But as we know from Genesis 1:26-28, God created humans in His likeness and image with one functional purpose in mind: to rule over the earth and all that it contains.

And this raison d’être necessitates all kinds of work! Furthermore, it makes all legitimate work on planet Earth a response to God Himself!

If this isn’t “holy ground,” I don’t know what is.

The Scripture referenced above, Genesis 1:26-28, says: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our likeness an image, and let them rule…over all the earth.’”

This profoundly important piece of information is often called, “The Cultural Mandate,” or, “The Dominion Mandate.” But I prefer to call it simply, The First Commission.

And what a commission it is! Here we have a commission to rule over the entire globe!

Chuck Colson summed it up this way: “On the sixth day, God created human beings—and ordered them to pick up where He left off!”

Next week: Part 3

The Missing Curriculum: Part 1

2010-05-07T04:00:00.001-07:00

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting an article I wrote for the May-June issue of Home School Enrichment magazine. It speaks to the need for recovering something that many early Americans took for granted, but has since disappeared—to our great detriment.

The article is also relevant to last week’s comments about the Islamization of Indonesia and the inroads Islam is making in Africa today.

Part 1:

Many things have changed since 1721. Some things, like men’s white powdered wigs and women’s corsets, we can live without. But some things have gone out of fashion that we really need to recover.

1721 was the year Jonathan Edwards graduated from the Collegiate School at New Haven, known today as Yale University. But before Edwards and his classmates could exit Yale, whether to work as pastors or merchants, they were tested in a particular field of study that has since disappeared from virtually every school in America: the practical art of God-centered work.

The course of study that Edwards and his fellow Puritans completed had a name: technologia, a Latin term. It was a curriculum complete with textbooks.

Technologia was a holistic curriculum that helped people to approach work in the broader context of a Christian worldview.

It is the biblical worldview that gave work—all kinds of legitimate work—remarkable purpose and meaning for Jonathan Edwards and his peers, whether they were missionaries, bankers, cobblers or homemakers.

Dr. David Scott, professor of history at Southern Evangelical Seminary, discovered the technologia while doing eight years of Ph. D. research on Jonathan Edwards. “The Puritan curriculum of technologia,” writes Dr. Scott, “taught Edwards a God-centered view of all reality. He grew up in a church that believed it had an obligation to teach what it meant to live a God-filled life in everything we do. That is why the textbooks of technologia began with the being of God and traced His truth through creation all the way to how it is lived out as a farmer, shoemaker, or merchant.”

But today, there is little curricula available that integrates an understanding of biblical worldview with everyday work. This is what I call, “The Missing Curriculum.”

Have you ever taken a class that specifically focused on how to align biblical worldview premises with repairing automobiles, designing software or running a legitimate business?

Part 2 next week.

Islam In Africa

2010-04-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

Of all the nations on earth, Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims. About 86% of Indonesia (nearly 200,000,000 people) claim to follow Islam.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of studying the history and culture of Indonesia as part of my studies at Bakke Graduate University. I spent ten days in that country with Ray Bakke and about a dozen other graduate students. During our stay, Ray pointed out that Islam did not come to Indonesia through Muslim clerics. It came via business and trade.

Michael Baer, in Business As Mission, writes: “I once asked an Indonesian Christian why the country had become so predominantly Muslim…She said that when the Western Christians came...they built missionary compounds and missionary churches and expected the Indonesian people to come to them. The Muslims, on the other hand, came as traders, farmers, merchants, and businesspeople and simply lived among the natives.”

Dr. Darrell Furgason, an expert in Islamic studies, says: “In places like Africa and Indonesia, the church has been intellectually crippled, with one hand tied behind its back. Western missionaries generally brought the Gospel in the way they learned it, as a purely soul-saving faith, with no real bearing on anything else—religion was a mostly personal matter, nothing to do with things like politics, science, law, economics….African people were given the Gospel, but not how to build a righteous nation, how to apply Christianity to everything….Muslims see their faith as all-encompassing…”

This leads me to follow-up on last week's post about what I learned from African educators earlier this month.

You see, while I was in Indonesia, one of my fellow doctoral students was an African by the name of Aila Tasse. Aila told me of the spread of Islam in Africa via business. His comment to me was: "The Muslims are winning."

When I returned home from Indonesia, I called Aila by phone and asked permission to record his comments for the benefit of others who need to know what is going on.

While in Kenya just a few weeks ago, I played Aila's comments for African leaders from Uganda, Nigeria and Sudan, and I asked if they concurred with Aila's report. Without hesitation, they all replied: "Yes! Absolutely! He is 100% correct!"

I urge you to take 2 minutes and 49 seconds to listen to Aila for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJppIj-Fnmc

Continued...

African Reformation?

2010-04-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Educators from Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon and other African nations came together April 1-4 in Kenya to focus on Christian education.

We met at the International Christian Educators Conference organized by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), where I was invited to teach on the topic of biblical worldview integration.

One leader said that what he hears most from African Christian educators are: "What is a biblical worldview?" and "How do we teach Christianly?"

This same African leader said: "Africans have understood the Gospel of Salvation, but not the Gospel of the Kingdom."

Biblical worldview, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and "teaching Christianly" are closely linked. Why? Because an understanding of biblical worldview opens up an understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which in turn motivates discerning educators to "teach Christianly."

What is the difference between the Gospel of Salvation and the Gospel of the Kingdom?

The Gospel of Salvation helps people understand how to become born-again believers through faith in Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. Through this door we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, and we can know we will go to heaven when we die.

This is critically important. But the Gospel of the Kingdom helps us to understand what the door of personal salvation leads to. We are not just saved from something, but saved for something!

Actually, the Gospel of Salvation is part of the Gospel of the Kingdom. There is only one Gospel. But personal salvation is not the whole picture. The Kingdom is much bigger.

The Gospel of the Kingdom is about the on-going life of Christ being lived out through the work-lives, civil-lives, and relational-lives of His redeemed people in the here-and-now, as well as in the then-and-forever.

This is what African educators are seeing. The African Christian school movement is burgeoning, not only in numbers, but in the vision of what distinctly Christian education can be.

Many African leaders see distinctly Christian education as a means of enabling the next generation to seamlessly integrate the all-encompassing biblical worldview into the totality of their social, economic, and civic lives.

This is the most hopeful thing I have seen in a long time.

Is this part of an African reformation? African Christian educators are smelling it. They want to carry the life-giving power of Christianity beyond the saving of souls to the transformation of nations.

Continued...

He Flew Into The Presence Of The Lord

2010-04-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, the soul of Dr. Albert E. Greene took flight from his 93-year-old body and he flew into the presence of the Lord.
Apart from the influence of Dr. Albert Greene on my life, it is safe to say I would not be doing what I am doing today, helping people to grasp the meaning and significance of a biblical worldview.

Apart from Dr. Greene, I doubt if I would have come to understand the breadth and depth of that treasure myself.

I first came to know this gentle giant of a man in 1959, as a 5th grade student at Bellevue Christian School, which Dr. Greene founded in 1950, and where he served as Principal and then Superintendent for many years.

In 1979, I took the role of Principal in a Christian school myself. To sharpen my understanding of what Christian education is supposed to be, I took graduate level courses in the philosophy of Christian education from Dr. Greene, who was then teaching part-time at Seattle Pacific University.

It was during this time that he asked me to stop calling him "Dr. Greene," and to just call him "Al." It was something I found extremely difficult, and never did feel comfortable doing.

It was through Al that the "worldview puzzle" fell together for me. I can tell you what room I was in on the day Al talked about the myth of the "secular world." I remember coming up to him after his talk, and sheepishly asking, "Are you saying the 'secular world' doesn't exist?"

I can still hear the inflection of his voice, as he simply stated, "It really doesn't." You could have knocked me over with a puff.

Al was one of the most intelligent men I have ever known. Yet, at the same time, he was one of the most humble men I have ever known. I was mentored as much by his kind spirit as by his brilliant mind.

The last visit my wife and I had with Al was a year and a half ago. His mind was sharp. As always, he suggested more books for me to read, as was captured in the photo that accompanies today's post below. Al's care-giver, Michelle Taylor, snapped this picture on that day.

Thank you, Dr. Greene, for mentoring me, and for your priceless encouragement and faithful support over these many years.

We'll talk again, my friend.

It Happens Every Summer

2010-04-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

I believe any legitimate job can have extraordinary meaning when it is aligned with a biblical worldview.

This is why worldview matters, and why I believe it is critically important to understand how our work can be aligned with a biblical worldview.

The process starts with an understanding of what a biblical worldview is. Therefore, any effort and time we spend bringing a biblical worldview into focus is time and effort well spent.

While it is never too late to learn, it makes sense to get some worldview training as a young person, before entering the workforce. The problem is, few schools offer courses in biblical worldview.

Self-study is one way to learn about biblical worldview, but most young people are not likely to do this until they develop an internal motivation along these lines. Gaining that initial motivation is the real challenge.

One way for a young person to gain such a motivation is to spend some time with a group of other young people who are focusing together on biblical worldview training--and enjoying it.

But where does this happen?

It happens every summer, during 2-week summer camps for students hosted by Summit Ministries.

I can vouch for this program because my wife and I spent two weeks at one of their student summer camps about ten years ago. We wanted to get an "inside picture" of what the Summit program is all about, so we asked if we could come as participants, even though we were long past the target age. We were kindly allowed to participate.

My friend, John Stonestreet, the Director of Summit Ministries, is one of the most able teachers of biblical worldview I know, and is particularly apt at connecting with young people. Many other nationally-recognized experts in biblical worldview come to the Summit summer camps as guest speakers.

While most readers of this blog are already through school, I suspect you know of students who would benefit greatly by a 2-week focus on biblical worldview. This summer, camps are being held in Colorado, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Here is the link to the Student Summer Conferences: http://www.summit.org/conferences/student/
The application is downloaded from there.

I encourage you to pass this information on to students you know who are of high school or college age.

By the way, Summit also hosts worldview training conferences for adults. See http://www.summit.org/conferences/adult/

What Makes A "Good" Job "Good?"

2010-04-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

What makes a "good" job "good?"

Pay is not the most important factor for most people. Of course, having a job that doesn't pay enough for basic necessities is a problem. But pay alone does not determine whether a person feels the job he or she has is a "good" one.

Matching one's strengths and abilities with one's work is an important factor. Booker T. Washington, who was Dr. George Washington Carver's boss at Tuskegee Institute, remarked that Carver was a poor administrator. It would have been a mistake for Booker T. Washington to have "promoted" Carver to an administrative role. Carver's best job fit was in the lab and in the fields.

But it is possible for a person to have an excellent job fit and still not feel that he or she has a "good job." Again, what makes a "good" job "good?"

There are lots of clues from the life of George Washington Carver. One of the big ones, in my mind, is that a "good" job is one with meaning.

Working with no sense of accomplishment can be drudgery. Spinning one's wheels, getting nowhere and making no progress is a big downer. But merely making progress at work (although this is a vital factor in job enthusiasm), is not enough. At least, not for me. I not only want to make progress in my work, I want to make progress toward something that has meaning.

The big question then becomes, "How can my work have meaning?"

I believe any legitimate work can have extraordinary meaning for any follower of Christ when it is aligned with a biblical worldview.

Bonnie Wurzbacher, a friend of mine who works as Vice-President of Global Accounts for The Coca-Cola Company, says, "we don't find meaning in our work, we bring meaning to our work." She's right. Take a moment to hear how Bonnie summarizes this in a 1-1/2 minute video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRdpT-KZv_4

Carver's work had meaning because he brought meaning to it. He understood what the biblical worldview is all about, and he was able to "bring it" to his daily job. The outcome was a life worth living and a job worth doing.

The amazing thing is, the biblical worldview provides as much meaning for the work of retail clerks and taxi cab drivers as it does for chemists and college professors!

This is why worldview matters.

One Of The Single Biggest Discoveries Gallup Has Ever Made

2010-03-26T04:00:00.001-07:00

Gallup's "World Poll" was the first of its kind. No one had ever created a poll that covered almost every issue on the globe, with questions that were applicable to every culture.

There is a lot of data out there that shows what men and women are doing around the world, but Gallup wanted to find out what men and women around the world are thinking. Gallup could not find such a poll, so they made one.

Gallup scientists created a questionnaire that was translated into dozens of languages, and they collected data from over 100 countries. The Gallup organization is committed to conducting this poll for 100 years.

After the first World Poll was completed in 2007, Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup, wrote of this project: "...we many have already found the single most searing, clarifying, helpful, world-altering fact." He went on to identify this fact as, "one of the single biggest discoveries Gallup has ever made."

What was Gallup's great discovery?

Clifton summarized it this way: "What the whole world wants is a good job."

Clifton wrote these words before we entered the world-wide recession we are now experiencing: "If you and I were walking down the street in Khartoum, Tehran, Berlin, Lima, Los Angeles, Baghdad, Kolkata, or Istanbul, we would discover that on most days, the single most dominant thought carried around in the heads of most people you and I see is 'I want a good job.'"

I found Clifton's report fascinating. It says something about people, in all parts of the globe, throughout all cultures. Muslims, Christians, atheists, Jews, black, white, communists and capitalists. It says something about how we are wired. We have a common felt need. That felt need is to be working, and to be working in a "good" job.

But what makes a particular job “good?” Is it the pay? The people we work with? The compatibility of our work with our particular gifts and talents, doing what we want to do? These are important factors, but it is possible to have excellent pay, great people to work with, a very fitting job compatibility, and yet still lack that "something" which makes a particular job a “good” one.

What is that "something?"

To answer this question, we'll turn once more to Dr. George Washington Carver. Next week.

It Boils Down To Four Words

2010-03-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

For Dr. George Washington Carver, the purpose and meaning of work boiled down to four words.

After Carver succeeded in creating products from plants, Thomas Edison asked him to come to New Jersey and work for him. Edison offered Carver a salary equivalent in today’s economy to nearly one million dollars per year. Carver declined the offer so he could remain at Tuskegee and help the Southern farmers.

Carver started a “School on Wheels,” going out to farms so he could teach farmers how to revive cotton-tired soil by planting peanuts and sweet potatoes. He also went to his lab to create markets for these plants, inventing 300 uses for the peanut and 118 uses for the sweet potato. Carver not only revived the soil, but the economy as well.

More than twenty years after Carver’s death, Clarence Mason, director of the Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee, said of Carver: “…I have the most profound respect and admiration for Dr. Carver because he turned away from the field in which he was most skilled and best trained [botany], to work in an area which he felt he could do the most good for the people in his community [chemistry].”

When Booker T. Washington invited Carver to come to Tuskegee Institute to teach students how to plant and harvest crops so they could be brought out of "degradation, poverty and waste," Carver replied: “I…shall be glad to cooperate with you in doing all I can through Christ who strengtheneth me to better the condition of our people.”

That is exactly what Carver did.

Through his work as a botanist-chemist, Carver loved people. At age 60 Carver wrote: “Living for others is really the Christ life after all. Oh, the satisfaction, happiness and joy one gets out of it…I know that my Redeemer lives. Thank God I love humanity; complexion doesn’t interest me one single bit.”

For Carver, it boils down to four words: Love God, love people.

Most people would agree that George Washington Carver was an extraordinay person, doing extraordinary work. But I think it is possible for any legitimate work done by any follower of Christ to be a conduit for loving God and loving people.

What do you think?

He Is Able To Look Beyond The Peanuts

2010-03-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

Religious leaders tried to trip Jesus up one day by asking Him to identify the most important commandment. Christ replied: “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” And then He added: “Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.”

Through his work as a botanist-chemist, Dr. George Washington Carver loved God and loved people. For Carver, his work is a daily opportunity for living out his love for Christ and for humanity.

Carver’s love for God is evidenced by the fact that he asks the Lord to give him his “orders for the day” during his morning walks through the woods. Carver continues to commune with God throughout the day, while in the lab at Tuskegee Institute creating products from peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans.

In doing his work as a botanist-chemist, Carver puts his daily trust in the Lord. He says: “God is going to reveal to us things He never revealed before if we put our hands in His. No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way of doing it are revealed to me. The method is reveled to me the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless.”

When asked what the secret of his success is, Carver replies: “It is simple. It is found in the Bible, ‘In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.’”

At the age of 75, Carver writes: “…if we do not take Christ seriously in our every day life, all is a failure because it is an every day affair.”

Clearly, Carver’s love for God compells him in his dailiy work as a botanist-chemist. He is able to look beyond the peanuts to his love for the Lord, and this gives his work with plants extraordinary meaning, and a higher purpose beyond the plants themselves.

Carver is not only compelled by his love for God, but his love for people too, as we'll see next week.

In the meantime, here is the big question of the day: How can our daily work be a channel for loving God and loving people?

Carver Was In Full-Time Ministry

2010-03-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

The accomplishments of Dr. George Washington Carver in the field of botany-chemistry are legendary, having developed 300 products from the peanut, and 118 from the sweet potato. The products Carver invented include printers ink, shaving cream, plastics, adhesives and much more.

But Carver only owned three patents on his many creations. Why? Because he didn't feel it was right to take money for something God gave him.

God gave him?

That's the way Carver saw it.

When he was inventing products from peanuts, Carver would go into his lab (which he called "God's Little Workshop") at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, and ask God to reveal to him the mysteries of the peanut.

Carver literally asked God why He made the peanut, and, by Carver's own testimony, God answered his prayer. Carver locked the door to his lab when he was creating things, because, as he put it, "only alone can I draw close enough to God to discover His secrets."

Carver epitomizes what it means to be a co-worker with God. In a letter written to Rev. Lyman Ward, Carver declared, "I am not interested in science or anything else that leaves God out of it."

At the age of 63, he wrote: "Man, who needed a purpose, a mission, to keep him alive, had one. He could be...God's co-worker...My purpose alone must be God's purpose...As I worked on projects which fulfilled a real human need, forces were working through me which amazed me. I would often go to sleep with an apparently insoluble problem. When I woke the answer was there."

Carver did not practice a "Sunday religion." His relationship with the Lord was an every day reality: "...all my life I have risen regularly at four o'clock and have gone into the woods and talked with God. There He gives me my orders for the day."

Carver was in full-time ministry. Not as a pastor, but as a botanist-chemist.

We'll unpack more about Carver's life next week, but in the meantime, please take a few moments to watch a short video clip about Dr. Carver, and note the way he seamlessly integrated his faith with his work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wv4qYIyJoM

Canceled When Adam And Eve Sinned?

2010-02-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

Some people believe that when Adam and Eve sinned, they forfeited their role as God’s representative governors over all the Earth. Like ambassadors caught in an act of treason, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden and removed from their positions as God’s delegated vice-regents over all the earth. “Earth-tending” was no longer the job description of human beings.

Was the First Commission canceled when Adam and Eve sinned?

If this is the case, then we are prisoners on a cursed planet, sent out to wander, spending our days toiling for food. Our work is no longer a way of fulfilling the role God had in mind for us when He created Adam and Eve: “Let Us make man...and let them rule…over all the earth.”

Beyond providing for our own subsistence, then, work on planet Earth could no longer have any significant purpose or meaning.

Some people believe the world (and all it contains) was given over to Satan at the point of Adam and Eve's act of disobedience.

If we embrace the idea that “the earth is the Devil’s and all it contains,” and we accept the notion that our original job description (the First Commission of Genesis 1:26-28) was rescinded at the Fall, we will have a very difficult time seeing how carpentry, software development or truck driving can be "the work of God"--unless perhaps we are building orphanages in Africa, developing software for Bible translation, or driving trucks for the Salvation Army.

I can't say exactly how or when it happened, but as a youth in my church, I picked up the idea that this planet is now Satan’s, and we are living on a sinking ship. Only the work that I would do "for eternity" had any real significance, and that didn't include things like selling shoes or processing insurance claims.

What possible significance could there be for Joe the carpenter in spending his life working for the XYZ construction company, pounding nails into 2 x 4s?

This is why, as I mentioned before, I told my mother when I was twelve years old that there were only two occupations in this life worth doing: being a pastor or a missionary.

Thank God that George Washington Carver didn't see it that way!

We'll visit him next.

More Than A Paycheck

2010-02-19T04:00:00.001-08:00

Last week we suggested that during Jesus’ 17 years as a carpenter, He was doing the work of God, based on the idea that He always did what His Father showed Him to do, whether as a carpenter or an itinerant teacher.

At age 12 Jesus was doing "His Father's business" in Jerusalem, talking with religious leaders in the temple. When He went back home with Mary and Joseph, He continued to do what His Father showed Him to do, "growing in favor with God and man" as a carpenter.

Imagine what might happen if hundreds of millions of followers of Christ around the globe were to go to work tomorrow morning with the conscious awareness that they are doing the work of God as farmers, taxi cab drivers and bankers?

Beyond imagination?

Maybe. So, let’s bring it down to one person—or, better yet, two.

What if you and a friend were to go to work tomorrow morning with the conscious awareness that each of you are doing the work of God, no matter what kind of work you are doing (assuming you have legitimate jobs)?

If you have some difficulty seeing your work as the work of God, I'd like to suggest a helpful resource. It's a curriculum called, "More Than A Paycheck."

"More Than A Paycheck" was written with the conviction that what the work-world needs now is a different kind of stimulus package. What we need is a recovery of "farming theology," "taxi-cab theology" and "banking theology."

Since the topic of the M-TAP curriculum is work of all kinds, it is as applicable for CEOs as it is for homemakers.

"More Than A Paycheck" consists of two texts [God's Pleasure At Work and The Difference One Life Can Make] each with accompanying DVDs that illustrate and augment the text. (The video clips included in this blog are from this curriculum.)

I invite you to join with me in helping followers of Christ to engage in their work as the work of God by forming a small group to complete the “More Than A Paycheck” curriculum.

To view a brief video endorsement by Chuck Colson, click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWVf4xlbM1o.

You may order the curriculum by visiting http://www.biblicalworldview.com/bookstore.html, or calling toll-free 877-624-0230.

Carpentry, Too, Is The Work Of God

2010-02-12T04:00:00.003-08:00

Ordinarily when we think of the Spirit of God flowing through Jesus, we think of Christ raising someone from the dead, turning water into wine, or healing a blind beggar by the side of the road.

Yes, these are dramatic examples of the Kingdom “actualized,” the Good News "incarnated," and the Kingdom “come.” Clearly, they are examples of "the work of God."

But have you ever stopped to consider that Jesus spent the majority of His days on earth doing work as a carpenter/stonemason? (Some scholars think He may have done both carpentry and stonemason work. Perhaps He was a general contractor.)

So here’s the big question: Did the Kingdom "come” through Christ during His carpentry years, too? When Jesus did carpentry, was He doing the work of God?

By His own testimony, Jesus only did what His Father showed Him to do (John 5:19). Was this the case during seventeen years of doing carpentry work in the little town of Nazareth?

We don’t know much about the life of Christ during His carpentry/stonemason years. But we do know two things: Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" in Nazareth (Luke 2:52), and He spent about six times more time doing carpentry/stonemason work than He did itinerant preacher/teacher work.

It is significant that when Jesus is 30 years old, at His baptism, God the Father audibly proclaims: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:16-17).”

Think about this. Before Jesus heals a single person, or feeds 5,000, or preaches to multitudes, His Father is “well pleased” with Him.

The Father does not elaborate on what is so pleasing to Him. Certainly Christ’s character pleases Him. But I suspect He is also pleased with how Jesus spends His time and energy up to that point in life, reconciling carpentry with the will of His Father. For Jesus, carpentry, too, is the work of God.

Justin Martyr (2nd Century historian) claimed that plows made by Jesus were still in existence around the year 120 A.D. If so, Jesus must have done superior work.

But whether it was building houses or making plows, certainly Jesus found God's pleasure in His work, knowing He was doing what His Father showed Him to do: carpentry!

For me, this casts “the work of God” in refreshing light.

Two Legs Of A Marathon Runner

2010-02-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

The Gospel of the Kingdom is Good News for both Heaven and Earth. This is not an "either-or" proposition, but a "both-and" deal.

Participating in the fullest outworking of the Great Commission [that is, participating in the joy of leading non-believers to a point of conversion, and participating in the on-going process of helping believers to observe all that Christ commanded] is like two legs of a marathon runner.

We must certainly share the Good News that Christ took our sins upon Himself at the cross for the personal salvation of human beings. People must hear that Christ died for their sins in order to believe it (Rom. 10:14).

At the same time, we must be diligent to help those who have received Christ as their personal Savior to fulfill the on-going purpose for which they are saved.

A big part of this on-going purpose involves Christ living out His life through His people in the context of their whole lives, which, for nearly half our waking hours, takes place at work.

We begin our new life in Christ through personal reconcilation to God by His grace, putting our trust in Christ alone to save us. And we continue our earthly role of reconciling all things to Him, including our work things, by means of that same grace.

Apart from Him, we can do nothing to save ourselves. And by the same grace that we exercised for our personal salvation, we are to let our salvation be "worked out" [expressed, or demonstrated] in the world around us, even as we're pounding nails, driving taxis or selling real estate. "...for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13)." That's grace in action, and it's a 24-hour deal.

Personal salvation is the critical starting point. It is essential to the Gospel of the Kingdom. But we must also bear in mind that we are not just saved from something. We are saved for something. And that "something" has a lot to do with our everyday work in the world.

We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works (Eph. 2:1-10). What better place to live out those works than in the workplace?