Christian Business Review 2022: Pressing On Toward God's Goal

BIBLICAL BUSINESS GOALS
BOOK EXCERPT
2. MEET NEEDS
Another important function for a Christian business is to
supply the physical needs of those who depend on it:
your own family and your employees. God’s Word puts it this
way: “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially
for those of his household, he has denied the truth, and
is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8). I believe this
Scripture applies not only to providing for our own families,
but also to a businessperson providing for his or her employees….
A good rule of thumb is to consider whether you would
be willing and able to live on what you’re paying the people
under your authority. If not, and you are able to pay more,
you need to consider James 5:4: “Behold, the pay of the laborers
who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld
by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did
the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”
This verse indicates that God holds us responsible for providing
for those under our authority.
3. BE A DISCIPLE
The apostle Paul wrote, “The things which you have heard
from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust
to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2
Timothy 2:2). On several occasions I have encountered Christian
businesspeople who spend thousands of dollars a year
to share faith with people in other countries; yet, often their
employees have never heard the Gospel in a meaningful way.
One Christian businessman I’ll call Alfred shared his concerns
with me after going through our business seminar. He
said, “I really thought I was a sound Christian businessman,
but I’m not doing even a third of the things presented here.
How do I get started?”
My response was, “Please don’t go back and tell your employees
how they should apply these principles. You just focus
on the principles that apply to you and demonstrate to
your employees that you care about them.”
Alfred went back and called a company meeting. His employees
thought, Oh no, he’s been to another one of those
religious seminars. Now he’s going to tell us what we need
to be doing to serve God. I’ve seen this happen many times.
A businessperson becomes enthusiastic about something he
or she learned at a seminar and decides, I’ve got to go back
and get this started in my business. Usually the employees
dread it, thinking, It’s going to be three weeks of misery again
until this works out of the boss’s system and we get back to
normal.
But Alfred took a different approach. He told his employees,
“I attended a seminar that changed my life, and I’d like
to try to share with you what God is teaching me. So once a
week I’m going to shut down our plant for an hour, and I’m
going to share what God’s Word says I should be doing for
you. The meetings are voluntary, but everyone is welcome.
From this point on, I want you to hold me responsible to be
the kind of Christian employer that God expects me to be.”
The next Monday, when the plant stopped for the meeting,
every one of Alfred’s employees was there. He began to
share what he should be doing as a Christian businessman.
Sometimes he would say, “I can’t implement this immediately
or it would ruin our company, but eventually, I am going
to do this to the best of my ability.” One of the programs
Alfred wanted to implement was a benevolence program to
help employees with special financial needs, such as medical
bills, family crises, or special education expenses by providing
company-sponsored grants.
To do this would first require re-educating the employees
so those who didn’t receive this benefit would not resent
those who did. It also would require establishing an employee
committee to oversee the fund and evaluate the candidates.
But Alfred was determined to get it started.
About a year after the meetings began, Alfred asked me to
speak to his employees. At one point in my talk I asked, “How
many in this room have personally accepted Jesus Christ as
your Savior?” Out of more than 100 employees, about 25
hands went up.
A year later I went back. This time I asked, “During the last
year, how many of you have personally accepted Jesus Christ
as a result of the influence of your boss?” Hands went up
throughout the room. In one year, more than 60 people had
come to the Lord through Alfred’s influence, and he didn’t
even know it. Evangelizing his employees hadn’t been his
goal. His goal had simply been to become more Christ-like in
his business.
The apostle Paul tells us we reap in the measure that we
sow (see 2 Corinthians 9:6). Alfred learned that truth when
he ran into some business and financial difficulties. During an
economic downturn, business got so bad he needed a large
infusion of money in order to continue operating. The high interest
rates at that time made borrowing out of the question.
Word of the company’s financial problems spread to Alfred’s
employees, several of whom got the idea of banding together
to lend Alfred the money (almost $300,000) themselves.
They raised the needed funds from among the other employees
and provided Alfred with an interest-free loan.
CHRISTIAN BUSINESS REVIEW Fall 2022 112