PART 4 of Eliminating the Sacred/Secular Divide: Pedagogy of the Unoppressed

Pedagogy of the Unoppressed PART 4

Eliminating the Sacred/Secular Divide

PART FOUR

Chapters 15 - 24

by Dr. Christian Overman

PART ONE (“The Lost Purpose for Living”) click here

PART TWO (chapters 1-6) click here

PART THREE (chapters 7-14) click here

PART FIVE (“Honey, We Shrunk The Kingdom!”) click here

The Solution, continued

15. What Drives Modern Thought?

16. The 20th Century Turn

17. The Upside of Postmodern Times

18. Spiritual Influence at Work

19. Responding Rightly When Things Go Wrongly

20. The Difference One Life Can Make

21. “But I’m Just a Hairdresser!”

22. What in the World is the Kingdom of God?

23. The Biblical Uniview Finder

24. Vital Friends and Parting Thoughts

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES for ADDED REINFORCEMENT

with SPANISH SUB-TITLES

After Chapters 15-16, view “The Truth and Baloney Detector” https://youtu.be/4e0dFgUxB6I

After Chapters 17-18, view “The Biblical World Viewfinder” https://youtu.be/Pbnr3x0Uhis

After Chapters 19-20, view “A Wholistic Vision for Vocation” https://youtu.be/QBZPfVZtKU

After Chapters 21-22, view “A Conversation with Darrow Miller” https://youtu.be/SyjNAwM_1IE

After Chapters 23-24, view “A Call To Action” https://youtu.be/vy2klSG3cIM

Chapter Fifteen

What Drives Modern Thought?

Remember the first time you looked at the moon through a telescope? How much brighter it seemed? How much closer? Almost as if you could reach out your hand and touch it?

We know the moon is there, but it’s so distant and seems to have so little effect on our lives. But the reality is that without the moon our world would be drastically different. The gravitational pull of the moon is so powerful it creates and perpetuates the ocean tides. Something so far away holding such powerful sway over something as massive as the ocean is pretty remarkable.

Now if you hold to a biblical uniview, and when you take that uniview to work with you, you will likely find that your biblical views and assumptions are not shared by a lot of coworkers and clients.

To understand why this is the case, it’s helpful to look at the history of how yesterday’s philosophies have shaped today’s worldviews. The “big ideas” behind these philosophies, like the moon, often seem too far removed to have any effect, but their power is felt in the currents of ideas that continue to break on the shores of our culture daily, in every workplace, whether the classroom or the boardroom.

I’m referring to some really big ideas with really big consequences. In the next few sessions, we’ll explore a brief history of Western thought over the past 500 years. And we’ll arrive at a greater understanding of why friends in your neighborhood and people in your workplace think the way they do, so that we can relate to them more effectively. We’ll start by taking a look at this thing we call “choice.”

HOW MUCH CHOICE DO WE REALLY HAVE?

Choice is a wonderful gift. Especially when it comes to things like ice cream! Can you imagine a world without Rocky Road, or Chocolate Chip Mint? I can’t.

Choice is fun. It sparks imagination and creativity. It is a great gift from God. But there are some things God has not given us a choice about.

Take gravity, for example. We all learn to live with its constant pull, hardly giving it a second thought. We just accept it. And then there’s the matter of when and where we were born. Or how tall or short we are. Again, we accept it. But have you ever stopped to consider that God has not given us choices when it comes to the matter of moral order?

What?! Am I saying we have no choice regarding what is morally right or wrong? As strange as it may sound to our 21st century ears, this is exactly what I’m saying.

If God wanted us to choose for ourselves what is right or wrong, His words to Moses at Mt. Sinai would have sounded something like what you’ll hear in the video below:

Watch

If God Gave Us a Choice

Approx. 1 minute

When it comes to moral order, sometimes we get "free choice" confused with "free will." Free will? Yes. We can make a decision to rob a bank and we can do so on Monday morning at10:00 o'clock. But do we really have free choice when it comes to whether it is right or wrong?

In the realm of morality, freedom works like this: We are "free" to disobey God's moral code in the same way we are "free" to jump off the edge of a cliff. But if we have no choice but to fall to the rocks below, perhaps we had better think again about our idea of “freedom.” Yes, we are free to jump, but we are not free to choose the consequences.

Here’s another way to say it: We all have the ability to break God’s moral laws, but we do not have the right to break them.

Think and Discuss: Do you agree? Why or why not? Support your answer with Scripture.

All of this leads to Big Picture Piece #5, which is the first Big Picture Piece in Chapter Two of the “Chronicle of the Ages” known as the “Fall”: God has set in place non-optional, nonnegotiable moral laws for our good, and when we disregard them, we hurt ourselves and others.

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES

Like so many aspects of the biblical uniview, Big Picture Piece #5 runs counter to the way most people think today. Putting the words “non-optional” and “non-negotiable” into the same sentence with “moral laws” doesn’t sit well with many. For some, to say we are not free to choose for ourselves what is morally right or wrong can only be described by the words obnoxious, arrogant and intolerant.

Why is this the case? Why do people object to this idea so strongly? The short answer is because we are living in Postmodern times.

Let’s take a little time to unpack that answer.

The term “Postmodern” is a slippery word that is hard to define in a simple way. To make matters more interesting, some culture-watchers, particularly in Europe, are now speaking of the postmodern era as a thing of the past. But whether we are still in Postmodern times or whether we have moved on to a new era, Postmodern thought has had a profound effect upon our current culture, including today’s workplace and our relationships. Understanding this effect is important, for workers at all levels, in all worksites.

When certain ways of thinking surround us on a daily basis, it is difficult to take a look at them objectively. It is easy to accept a mindset that assumes certain ways of thinking are “just the way things are.” But cultural thought patterns are developed through happenings in the past. This is particularly true of Postmodern thought.

In view of this, we’re going to take a look at how the Western world came to accept Postmodern thought, and we will look at the ramifications of that acceptance for the workplace. A clear understanding of Postmodern thought is extremely helpful in relating to people, such as our co-workers, customers and clients. And even ourselves!

Some readers may wonder why a course dealing with today’s workplace would need to go back 400 years in time. If, as you are reading, you wonder what all this history has to do with you and your work today, hang on. The history I’m about to share with you provides important clues for followers of Christ who want to be a healthy spiritual influence at work, and who want to relate to their co-workers and customers in truly authentic and meaningful ways.

As followers of Christ, we do well to understand where people are “coming from,” so that we can communicate effectively with them, and so we can relate to our neighbors andcoworkers on more than just a superficial level. In addition, understanding the roots of today’s Postmodern thought and the reasons behind its rise to prominence can provide us with an important sensitivity to the potential pitfalls that hinder the building and maintaining of ethical, sustainable businesses today. In First Chronicles 12:32, we find that the Sons of Issachar "understood the times and knew what Israel should do." These words are significant. Understanding the times and knowing what to do are closely related.

In this chapter, and the next, we’ll concentrate on the “understanding the times” part. Then we’ll move on to the “knowing what to do” part. Let’s begin by understanding what Postmodern thought is basically all about, and why.

A REACTION TO MODERNTHOUGHT

As surely as one generation replaces the music of their parents with a different sound and style, ways of thinking shift as well. Such is the case with the shift to Postmodern thought. When it comes to understanding the “sound and style” of Postmodern thought, it helps to think of Postmodernism as a reaction to Modern thought. With this in mind, let’s begin by taking a look at Modernism, so we can better understand what Postmodernism is reacting to.

The roots of Modernism go back to Europe of the 1600s, to a time when people began to see reality much differently than they had ever seen it before. Literally.

Two important inventions helped bring this change about. One was the microscope, invented in 1590, and the other was the telescope, invented in 1608. While these new instruments were not the only developments that ushered in the Modern Era, they helped speed it along.

Although Galileo (1564-1642), the Italian astronomer, did not invent the telescope, he improved upon this new tool and used it to make observations and measurements with respect to the solar system. He concluded that Copernicus (the Polish astronomer who died about 21 years before Galileo was born) was correct when he said the earth is not the center of our system, but rather the sun is the center. In 1632 he published a book in which he argued this was the case.

The Church had serious problems with Galileo, and Galileo with the Church. Some historians believe the conflict between Galileo and the Church was exacerbated by Galileo’s assertive and abrasive personality. He seemed bent on having others accept his belief in a suncentered system, and was insulting to those who thought otherwise, including the Pope, whom he characterized in his book, referring to him as “Simplicio,” which can be translated “simpleton” or “fool.” As a consequence, he became a big irritation because his views ran contrary to the teachings of the Church at that time.

In 1633, the year after his book was published, Galileo was brought before the Inquisition, a Church tribunal that specialized in rooting out heresies. Kneeling before the Cardinals, at the age of 70, on June 22, Galileo recited a declaration stating he would “abandon the false opinion that the sun is the center of the world and immovable, and that the earth is not the center of the world and moves,” and that he would “not hold, defend, or teach in any way whatsoever, verbally or in writing, the said false doctrine.” This “false doctrine” was said to be contrary to Holy Scripture, which church leaders interpreted as supporting a moving sun and an immovable earth [note Joshua 10:12-13, Ps. 93:1, 104:5 and Ecc. 1:5]. Galileo’s book was burned, and he was put under house arrest for the last ten years of his life.

Think and Discuss: What effects do you think the “Galileo Affair” has had upon history? How may it have affected some people’s view of the Church? How might the Church have approached the “Galileo problem” differently, with different results?

SO HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT IS TRUE?

Over time, people became convinced that Galileo was correct. The truth about what was really real with respect to the earth, and to other things, was much different than many had been taught to believe by respected Church leaders.

Have you had the experience of being taught by responsible people that something was true, only to later realize it was not true at all? How did you feel? Probably not very happy.

One such unhappy individual who felt that his schoolteachers grossly misled him was a Frenchman named René Descartes (1595-1650). Descartes [day-cart’] attended one of the most prestigious schools in France, taught by Jesuit priests. (In those days, virtually all schools were taught by clergy.)

Descartes was a brilliant mathematician, who used mathematics to prove that the earth is not the “immovable center,” but that the sun is the center of our solar system. He wrote a book on this topic which was due to be printed around the time Galileo was brought before the Church tribunal. Upon hearing what happened to Galileo, Descartes promptly withdrew his book

from publication. He also had rumors spread that he held theology in highest esteem. He didn’t want to face the Inquisition, or even come close to it, apparently.

Today, Descartes is called “The Father of Modern Thought.” What caused historians to dub him so is the fact that Descartes wanted to start over again with a “blank slate” of knowledge, to rebuild it from the ground up. In doing so, he applied his “Principle of Radical Doubt” to any questions regarding what was really real. The basic idea behind the Principle of Radical Doubt was that a person should consider anything to be false until it is proven true through observation and measurement.

Like so many mathematicians, Descartes craved certainty. Being a philosopher, as well as a mathematician, he wanted to formulate a philosophy that was as certain as mathematics. Doubting everything that he had been taught, Descartes pushed himself back to where he doubted all that could be doubted including his own existence. But there was one thing he could not doubt. He could never doubt that he was doubting! He was thinking! He concluded: I think, therefore I am. (Maybe he had too much time to think!)

THE CENTRAL ROLE OF REASON IN MODERN THOUGHT

Descartes’ starting point for determining authentic knowledge, then, became human reason, as guided by observation and measurement This was a departure from how the Church approached the matter of determining what was authentically true or false. For the Church, Church authorities played an important role, along with the Scriptures. But sometimes human beings can misinterpret the divine Revelation of the Bible, which can lead to many sorry conclusions, as was the case with Church leaders who firmly held to an earth-centered solar system.

As far as Descartes was concerned, human reason needed to be divorced from Revelation so that it could become its own independent authority. Descartes put this history-changing idea into motion, and in so doing, he birthed Modern Thought.

Of course, reason itself is not a bad thing. In fact, the ability to reason is a part of what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God. It is a gift. Our God is a reasoning God. In fact, the Lord invites us to reason together with Him (see Isaiah 1:18). But human reason divorced from Revelation and made to be an authority unto itself, that is, autonomous human reason, is a serious problem. This is because the human mind is so capable of making significant errors, no matter how brilliant a person may be. This is particularly true in the realm of philosophy, where Descartes ventured. Even before the Fall, it was possible for humans to be deceived, as evidenced by Adam and Eve falling for the serpent’s lie in the garden.

When it comes to deciding how we should do business, or how we should interact with customers and co-workers, or what we should be selling or not selling, the basic question we must ask is: are human minds and senses sufficiently equipped and qualified in and of themselves to be the final judges of what is right, proper, good, and true, or does one need assistance from a superhuman source, outside of oneself? Should market research and analysis, or the financial

bottom line, alone determine policy or procedure? God warns us not to lean on our own understanding, but in all our ways to acknowledge Him (Prov. 3:5-6).

Think and Discuss: Do you have times when the Word of God conflicts with the “good ideas” of people you work with? When this happens, how do you deal with such situations? Can you think of any examples where business ethics were derailed by reasoning that “sounded good?” How about situations at school, if you are a student?

Descartes was in an uncomfortable position. Having observed what happened to Galileo, Descartes did not want to incur the wrath of the Church, but he also did not want to give up his belief in a sun-centered system, and the “modern” way of thinking.

THE GREAT COMPROMISE

In effect, Descartes brought about a compromise with the Church. While it was not a formal agreement between Descartes and the Church Fathers, the result has come to be called by historians, “The Cartesian Compromise.” [The word “Cartesian” comes from the name Descartes.] Below is a representation of The Cartesian Compromise:

The Cartesian Compromise necessitated a separation of the metaphysical world (the world “beyond the physical”) from the physical world. In the metaphysical world are all the unseen spiritual realities, such as God, angels, demons, heaven, hell, etc. Issues like prayer, Bible study, worship, evangelism, morality and spiritual doctrines of the church occupied the realm of the metaphysical. Also, in the metaphysical realm were “values.” In the physical realm, on the other hand, were “facts.” Or so it seemed.

According to the Cartesian Compromise, when it came to metaphysical issues, the Church was the recognized authority. “Truth” in this sphere was determined via divine revelation, as church leaders interpreted Scripture. The physical world, on the other hand, was to be the domain of science. In the realm of the planets, gravity, laws of motion, botany and biology, “truth” was to be determined through independent human reason as guided solely by

observation and measurement, without interference from the Church or the Bible. Eventually, the Cartesian Compromise effectively removed Science from the authority of both the Church and Scripture. In time, it divorced “Science” from “Religion,” and allowed scientists to go their own way unencumbered by church leaders who didn’t know much about telescopes. Over time, the Church was silenced in all matters of science. But this took time.At first, in the 17th century, there was little separation of science from theology. Many scientists of the 1600s had a profound respect for the Bible. In fact, Isaac Newton (1642-1727), one of the greatest scientists of all time, wrote many volumes on biblical themes, particularly biblical prophecy. He was considered by many in his day to be both a theologian and a scientist.

Yet with Descartes’ bifurcation of reality into a lower sphere of the physical and an upper sphere of the metaphysical, later European philosophers like David Hume (a British atheist who lived in the 1700s) decided Divine Revelation was not evennecessary, because God Himself wasn’t real. He couldn’t be observed and measured! Hume, and others like him, claimed that nothing was real that could not be verified through empirical, measurable evidence. As time went by, the separation of science from Scripture and the teaching of the Church had a dramatic kind of “baby–tossed–out–with–the–bath-water” effect. Eventually, independent human reason took on a radical authority all its own, and Reason [capital R] became a law unto itself. Reason became “liberated” from Revelation It became autonomous. In sense, it became the new “God.” That is, the new ultimate authority.

The 17th century became known as The Age of Reason. The 18th century that followed became known as The Age of Enlightenment. The “light” in the word “Enlightenment” was not the light of Scripture, of course, but the light of autonomous human Reason─with a capital “R.” Eventually, Reason reasoned out Revelation altogether. Or to put it another way, as Francis Schaeffer did, Reason “ate up” Revelation. Revelation was no longer needed, other than being relegated to the “personal” and “private” aspects of life, with no role outside of those arenas, whether in science, civil affairs or the so-called “secular” workplace. God Himself was unnecessary. Finally, in the 19th century, God was pronounced “dead” by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. We’ll come back to Nietzsche later.

I have only touched upon Modern thought to provide a backdrop for Postmodern thought, which was a reaction to Modernism. Here’s what Postmodernism was reacting to:

1. Human reason (based solely on observation and measurement) is the ultimate authority and guiding light.

2. There is a strong faith in human self-sufficiency, and a supreme trust in human intellect.

3. “Truth” is believed to exist, but it is to be discovered only through autonomous reason and scientific rationalism.

4. There is confidence in science to potentially solve all problems known to humanity (optimism is high).

Chapter Sixteen

The 20th Century Turn

In the book of James, we read that a man who asks God for wisdom but doubts that God can provide that wisdom, is double-minded and unstable in everything he does. James likens that man to a boat driven and tossed by the waves.

Today, Christians in the work-world are being adversely affected by a deadly form of double-mindedness that causes many Christians to be tossed about without a true sense of purpose and mission in their everyday work. Students included.

As we saw in the last session, dividing the physical realm from the metaphysical realm was strengthened by the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment. The eventual outcome was that many Christians felt unable to fully engage with their faith in both the metaphysical as well as the physical realms of life.

In this chapter, we’re going to take a look at how Postmodernism came on the scene in the 20th century as a reaction to the dualism of Modern thought, and brought about a 20th century turn that none could have imagined.

A DIFFERENT SORT OF WORLD

As we saw in Chapter Fifteen, the shift toward Modern thought began around the time people started looking at the solar system differently. Interestingly, the shift toward Postmodern thought began around the time people started looking at the sub-atomic world differently. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say, when people started looking at the sub-atomic world for the first time.

In the 1920s, a new branch of physics developed called, Quantum Physics, or, Quantum Mechanics. It is the study of minuscule elements of atoms, like protons, electrons, neutrons and quarks.

This sub-atomic world is a much different place than most of us can imagine. Don’t try too hard here to understand the quirks of quarks, and quantum mechanics. I don’t really understand them myself. The important thing here is to understand the effects theories of quantum physics had on the thinking of the general populace, from homemakers to presidents.

In the sub-atomic world, things just didn’t behave the way Isaac Newton’s laws of motion and movement said they should behave. In the 1600s, Newton used the scientific method to quantify basic laws of physics, like laws of gravity and motion. In Newton’s view of physics, Newton's laws of “cause and effect” are consistent, universal, and absolute. That is, they work every time, everywhere in the known universe. Scientists still use Newton’s laws to successfully send probes to planets in outer space.

But in the sub-atomic realm, gravity is virtually a nonentity. Its force is basically unfelt, or at least it is considered to be a non-factor in determining things like movement and motion within an atom.

Scientists in the 1920s found that the sub-atomic world didn’t operate by consistent, universal, absolute laws of cause and effect. Newton’s laws were still valid for describing what scientists call “mid-scale” phenomena (that is, the scale of everyday human experience). But they aren’t useful for describing what goes on at the extreme “micro-level,” that is, the level within an atom.

Surprisingly, quantum physicists carried out experiments with sub-atomic matter that had different outcomes at different times. This introduced a new measure of uncertainty into a field of knowledge that for several hundred years had been governed by certainty. (Remember Descartes’ passion for mathematical and philosophical certainty.) “Uncertainty” now became a scientific principle all its own, and an accepted premise of how things worked within the subatomic realm.

Many scientists believed that in the sub-atomic world, "laws" just didn't apply like they did elsewhere. Predictions of how things would happen at the sub-atomic level were “probable,” not “certain.” And to make things even more interesting, matter at the sub-atomic level was perceived to be acting in different ways depending on how the observer examined it. (Woah!) And things become even stranger when some quantum physicists tell us there are multi-level dimensions of reality.

Now I’m not going to say that isn’t true. Who am I to say? I see no biblical reason to reject the theories of quantum physics. The theories themselves aren’t anti-biblical. They don’t contradict the function of a purposeful and orderly Creator. The problem comes when people take the theories of quantum physics and extrapolate them to apply to all other aspects of reality, applying them to fields far removed from physics, such as philosophy, morality and ethics.

20th century thinkers and culture-shapers began to use the theories of quantum physics as a popular argument for the concept that "truth" itself could never be absolute, universal or certain. “Truth” itself depends on how the observer observes it! “Truth,” in this scheme of things, is what the individual perceives it to be! I’ll come back to this later, but for now, just bear in mind the following elements of Quantum Physics that influenced a very different way of thinking in the culture at large:

1) Newton’s mechanical cause-and-effect laws are perceived as not functioning at the subatomic level. Scientific “laws,” in this case, are no longer thought of as being “absolute” or “universal.”

1) The sub-atomic world is perceived as operating by rules that are inconsistent. “Scientific certainty” is no longer certain.

2) Sub-atomic matter is seen acting in different ways depending on how the observer examines it.

MORE UNCERTAINTIES

Another big development of the 20th century that caused Modern thought to lose its grip on the West was disillusionment with Reason and Science on a grand scale.

The Age of Reason, The Enlightenment, and The Scientific Revolution were supposed to lead to solving all problems known to humanity. Utopia was on the horizon. But what actually happened in the 20th century proved otherwise!

World War I was so terrible it was said to be “The War to End All Wars.” But World War II came right behind it, in the same theater and beyond. It was more horrific than the First World War, ending with the dropping of two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities that killed about 110,000 people instantly, and about 350,000 by 1950, through the slow effects of atomic radiation.

Then following World War II, we witnessed the mass murder of millions in the name of ideologies. An estimated 170,000,000 people were killed in the 20th century at the hands of their own governments.

On top of all this, the toxic by-products of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th and early 19th century came into full bloom. 20th century consumerism produced a level of pollution the world had never known before.

By the 1960s, things came to a head. The fruit of 300 years of Scientific Rationalism, along with unrestrained autonomous Reason, had brought the human race to what seemed like “the eve of destruction.” In the ’60s, a world-wide revolt took place, particularly among young people who declared they “couldn’t trust anyone over the age of 30.” If the light of autonomous Reason had led us to this point, they surmised, perhaps we’d better re-think things. And rethink they did!

Postmodern thought didn’t begin in the ’60s, but the ’60s seemed to catapult it into the mainstream culture, even though the term “Postmodern” was unfamiliar to most people until the 1990s. In the ‘60s, Modern optimism turned into Postmodern cynicism Belief in progress turned into a sense of regress. Newton's mechanical view of the universe was perceived to be impersonal, purposeless and meaningless. A different way of seeing things took shape: the Postmodern way.

CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN THOUGHT

The reaction to Modernism ran deep and wide. In rejecting Modern thought, people began to embrace the idea that reason is not the ultimate guiding light and final authority. Personal opinion, intuition, and even “gut instinct” can be just as valid. It was a rejection of reason. Francis Schaeffer, the 20th century Christian thinker, wrote of it as an “escape from reason.”

In addition, people embraced the idea that there is no longer any such a thing as “universal,” “absolute” or “certain” truth. Truth is a “construct,” determined by different social

groups, and varying from group to group. Consequently, all “truths” are equally valid. Furthermore, various “truths” do not really conflict with each other because “truth” is multidimensional. Kind of like the multi-dimensions theorized by quantum physicists.

So, trying to convince a co-worker who is caught up in Postmodernism that Christianity is “true” can be an exercise in futility. Your knowledge of biblical apologetics might not mean a lot. “Of course Christianity is true! It’s just as true as Hinduism and Atheism!” You see, “truth” (so-called) becomes “truth” for a particular group that determines it to be true, for them!

This is why today it is possible for someone to say to a follower of Christ, “I’m glad you’ve found the truth, for you!” And in the same breath they might add, “But don’t impose your truth on me!” [Yet Christianity is true whether one believes it or not.]

It has been interesting over the years to watch the change in the meaning of the word “tolerance.” In the ’50s, when I was a child, “tolerance” meant you allowed other people to believe what they believed to be true (even if it was false) without forcing them to change their minds. But today it means you accept that what other people believe to be true is just as true as what you believe. If you don’t accept “their truth” as just as valid as “your truth,” you are labeled “intolerant."

The Postmodern concept of “tolerance” can be carried to amazing and troubling extremes. One example is illustrated by the following video of University of Washington students being interviewed on the topic of “gender identity:”

Watch “College Kids Say the Darndest Things: On Identity” Approx. 4 minutes

The mental process seen in the students interviewed above did not begin at the university level. It began in elementary school, long before the people you saw in the interview above even thought about attending the University of Washington.

Today, people who hold to the idea of absolute truth (that is, truth that is true for everyone) are seen as “imposing” their “construct” of truth on others by simply not accepting other people’s “truth” as being just as true as theirs. In so doing, Christians are considered arrogant “oppressors.” In Postmodern culture, to suggest there is only one transcendent moral order that applies to everybody, or there is only one way to come to the knowledge of God, is seen as arrogance in the extreme and oppressive.

To the Postmodern mind, “imposing” one’s construct of truth on someone else is like trying to apply Newton’s laws to everything, including the sub-atomic world and the speed of light. The notion of “absolute moral law” islikebad joke, in Postmodern times. And this explains why Postmoderns aren’t anxious to hear about the “Four Spiritual Laws” today. The notion of a “Spiritual Law” is a significant mental roadblock. “Witnessing” today is not what it used to be in the 1950s, and we would do well to approach it differently. (We’ll come back to this later.)

Another characteristic of Postmodern thought is there is no unified center of values and ethics for everyone. Not only is “truth” a highly subjective matter today, but so are “values.” Values are “clarified” by the individual. Ethics are situational. What’s “right” for one person must not be construed as “right” for everybody. Nobody is “wrong” anymore. It’s only “wrong” to say something is “wrong!” For some people, it’s only “wrong” if you get caught. The ramifications of all this for the workplace are enormous.

In Postmodern times, there is no standard “Higher Law” to which everyone is equally subject. In the Pre-Modern culture of the Middle Ages, the Church provide this common standard. Later, after the Reformation, particularly in the United States, the Bible provided the “standard.” And if the Bible clearly condemned something, it was generally deemed “wrong” by the public. In the Modern Era, Scientific Rationalism and autonomous human Reason provided a basis for “Higher Law.” In Postmodern times, however, there is no “Higher Law.” In Postmodern times, laws change with the majority vote, or as radicaljudges decide. Values and ethics are much more “fluid” today, much to our collective detriment.

All of this provides an answer to the question of why so many people today view those who subscribe to Big Picture Piece #5 as obnoxious, arrogant, and intolerant: God has put in place non-optional, non-negotiable moral laws for our good, and when we disregard them, we hurt ourselves and others. This way of thinking is essential for the health of any workplace, and needs to be restored.

THE FATHER OF POSTMODERN THOUGHT:NIETZSCHE

Historians have dubbed the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche as “The Father of Postmodern Thought.” Nietzsche, who at one time considered becoming a pastor, came to view Christianity as the worst thing that ever happened to the human race. He saw Christianity as an imposition upon humanity, fostered by oppressors who said it was true for everyone. Nietzsche was one of the first Western philosophers to reject the idea of “absolute,” “universal” truth. For Nietzsche, moral values were not equally true and right for everyone.

Photo of Friedrich Nietzsche (circa 1875) by F. Hartmann in Basel. [ Public Domain due to age of photography. Scan processed by Anton (2005).]

If morality is something we determine for ourselves, then the lines between “morality” and “immorality” become very subjective and quite blurred, whether it is in the workplace or elsewhere. What is “moral” or “immoral” depends upon many factors, for the Postmodern mind.

Postmodernism served as fuel for moral relativism to take off in the 20th century. Moral relativism is a way of thinking that sees morality as relative to the collective consensus of a social group, or to an individual’s desire. In either case, there is no regard for absolute, universal, non-optional moral Law. This way of thinking is illustrated well in the following video of “on the street interviews” I did at an open market near the University of Washington, several years ago, in Seattle:

WATCH: How Do People Determine Right and Wrong?

https://rumble.com/v3p8zn8-how-do-people-determine-right-and-wrong-today.html

By casting off morality that is “imposed” by others, particularly by Christians, the Postmodern person “leaps over" any impositions of absolute truth others may try to “put on them.” This may explain why Nietzsche’s writings are so popular among college students today.

The one who successfully “leaps over” the “impositions” of God or others (such as Christians) is described by Nietzsche as the Ubermensch, or, as it is often translated into English, the “Overman." The “Overman” overcomes anyimpositions by asserting his or her own “will to power.” [So, I guess being “Christian Overman” is a Nietzschean oxymoron.]

With the coming of Nietzsche’s “will to power,” the development of the autonomous human will has just about reached full bloom in the West. The word autonomy means “selflaw.” This is the fuel of Postmodern times.

For Nietzsche, true human freedom was to be found through becoming an autonomous law unto oneself For Nietzsche, autonomy is “freedom.” You are now free to obey yourself!

Yet, we shouldn’t demonize Nietzsche by blowing his ideas out of proportion. It wasn’t a new concept. In fact, Nietzsche was tapping into something very old.

All people since the time of the Fall have had a natural tendency to be a law unto themselves. We all have a natural “bent” to go our own way rather than God’s way, and to assert our will above His will, being a law unto ourselves. This is the gist of what the Bible calls sin.

This brings us to Big Picture Piece #6: Since the Fall, human beings have experienced an internal problem with sin a natural “bent” to go our own way rather than God’s way, and to be a law unto ourselves. [Gen. 3; Prov. 16; Rom. 6-8; Gal.5]

Having this “bent” is not sin in and of itself. But acting on this bent is. In the workplace, when people become a law unto themselves and act upon their natural autonomous bent, business leaders can easily be swayed by greed, employees can easily pilfer and embezzle, Chief Financial Officers can cook the books in order to make it look to stockholders like things are

much better than they really are, mathematical upstarts can come up with complex formulas that make profits appear out of thin air, like pulling rabbits out of hats, sellers of securities can bundle bad loans with good ones and then sell them to unsuspecting buyers and the list goes on, and on.

As a result, the houses of cards tumble. People suffer. Savings are lost. Credit freezes. Trust erodes. The economy goes into a free-fall, and regular people who were just trying to do a full day’s work for a full day’s pay lose their life savings. Fear spreads like a pandemic. Borrowing money to solve the problem is a superficial fix. It causes more problems, and fails to get to the real root of the problem, which is a moral issue, not an economic one.

Until we address the real root problem, economic failures are destined to repeat themselves. Businesses simply cannot be sustainable if they are unethical, or built upon people who are a law unto themselves.

Yet, there are some silver linings to Postmodern Times, which we will get to shortly. But before we do, I’d like you to watch video #10, below.

One sunny afternoon (yes, occasionally the sun does come out in Seattle), my wife, Kathy, and I went down to the Seattle Center, about 20 minutes from our home, to capture samples of Postmodern thought on video tape. They were not difficult to find. In less than two hours, we had more than enough samples. We just set up our camera and asked passers-by to answer the following question: “How do you define ‘right’ and ‘wrong,’ and how do you determine the difference?”

In contrast to the earlier street interviews (linked above), during the entire time we were collecting samples this day, not a single person referred to the Bible as a guide for determining “right” and “wrong.” No reference was made to Jesus, or to the God of the Bible. Here are answers from people we selected randomly on the street (recorded in 2014):

Watch

Postmodern Concepts of “Right” and “Wrong” Approx. 6 minutes

Think and Discuss: Do you hear similar ideas from co-workers (classmates)?

Carried to their logical conclusions, what effects might some of these ideas have on your workplace if they were acted upon? Can you give some real examples of Postmodern ethics run amuck? One young man in the video said that what is “wrong” is what goes “too far to harming others.” Is this a biblical measure of something that is “wrong?” Support your answer. If you had been asked the question we asked on the street, how would you have responded?

One big caution here. We need to be careful that we don’t place people in boxes. One cannot assume that just because a person is under the age of 30 (or a resident of Seattle), he or she necessarily has a Postmodern mindset. Nor can we assume that a man or woman over 65 does not have such a mindset. Many do. People are a mixture these days.

Today, there is a blend of Postmodern and Christian thinking among many, and there is a mixture of Modern and Postmodern thought, too. Some people are a mixture of all three plus more, including Hinduism, Buddhism and other worldviews. The fact is, many in today’s workplace are part of a cultural mosaic of Modern-Postmodern-Christian-Hindu-BuddhistAtheist-Islamic-Native-American “anything goes” thought. This affords a wonderful opportunity to dialogue with people, by asking them genuine questions about what they believe and why.

It’s OK to ask such questions today, if it is done in a way that sincerely values the responses of the other person, and shows a genuine interest in what he or she really thinks, not as a pretext to some kind of “message” you want to deliver.

Postmodern people are (generally) open to expressing their opinions when asked, and often even when not asked. After all, their opinions are just as valid as anyone else’s, and there are no really “wrong” answers these days. This frees people up considerably. But only by asking sincere questions can we genuinely find out what makes people tick. And this is an important part of cultivating authentic relationships with our co-workers, which we will discuss later.

But to lay a more complete backdrop for how to effectively cultivate authentic relationships with people in today’s workplace, we must explore a few of the positive sideeffects of Postmodernism. We’ll do this in Chapter Seventeen, as we consider “The Upside of Postmodern Times.”

But before we look at the upside of Postmodern Times, let’s think a bit more about the difference between truth and “baloney.” Being able to tell the difference between truth and baloney is a vital skill called, “discernment.” Ibelieve this is a skill we can developed through practice.

A practical tool we can use to build your “discernment muscle” is one called, the Truth & Baloney Detector.

THE TRUTH & BALONEY DETECTOR TOOL

Back in chapter 10, you were introduced to the ATII Question. Remember? The ATII Question is a kind of mental “grid” in which you think about what was being “Assumed, Taught, Ignored or Implied” [ATII] about God, Creation, Humanity,Moral Order and Purpose. If you will recall, you looked at one episode of the Reading Rainbow program, and considered what was being assumed, taught, ignored and implied in that program about the 5 worldview components.

The Truth & Baloney Detector is a tool based on thesame idea of analyzing input through the “grid” of the five worldview components of God, Creation, Humanity, Moral Order and Purpose.

In this tool, you identify what is being assumed,taught, ignored or implied about God that is in harmony withthe biblical uniview, and then you identify what is being assumed, taught, ignored or implied about God that is in conflict with the biblical uniview. You repeat that same process for the other four worldview components: Creation, Humanity, Moral and Purpose.

Go back and watch the Reading Rainbow episode again. This time, as you view the program, use the Truth & Baloney Detector to jot down anything you see that is in harmony with the biblical view of God, Creation, Humanity, Moral Order and Purpose, and anything that is in conflict with it.

For a blank form of the Truth & Baloney Detector, click here Watch

Reading Rainbow Episode 129 Approx. 3 minutes

For an example of how an analysis of the Reading Rainbow episode was doneby one who used the Truth & Baloney Detector, click here. Take a close look at this example after you have used the Truth & Baloney Detector tool yourself, to do your own analysis.

TheTruth&BaloneyDetectorcanbeusedwhen tryingtoassess any input coming your way, whether it’s ideas from co-workers (or fellow students), or input from customers. It can be used to evaluate business proposals, legislation, etc. It can be extremelyhelpful when trying to assess currentissues,suchasCriticalRaceTheoryandGenderTheory.

ItisimportanttounderstandwhatCriticalRaceandGenderTheoryareabout.Viewand discussthefollowing48-minutevideoonthis criticaltopic(nopunintended):

Critical Race and Gender Theory: What's It All About? (rumble.com)

See also: https://youtu.be/3XylR5To-gU

Chapter Seventeen

The Upside of Postmodern Times

Imagine you’ve lived your entire life surrounded on all four sides by a high wall. From the moment you were born, you’ve known nothing but this wall. You’ve been taught that the wall is a good thing, that it’s there for your protection, and that it exists for your benefit.

You grow up playing at the foot of the wall, sleeping next to it for protection, and leaning against it for comfort. And you never really question why it’s there or where it came from.

But then one day, an idea comes to mind. And that idea grows and grows until you can no longer ignore it. What if the wall is not a good thing after all? What if, contrary to what you’ve been told, it’s a confining force? What if someone built that wall to constrain you, to keep you from discovering who you really are and what life is really all about?

What would you do? Would you simply dismiss the idea and continue to live your entire life inside the confines of that wall, or would you attempt to leap over that wall in hopes of discovering the “truth?”

When the youth of the ‘60s rejected Modernism, they sought alternative views of reality to embrace. Like the rock group “Spin Doctors” put it in the ‘90s, “You’ve got to believe in something...it’s a lonely universe.”

Among Modernists, a belief in any sort of spirituality had waned, if not disappeared. In light of the mechanical view of the universe that accompanied Modern Thought, this is not surprising. Without God, the universe is a very lonely place indeed. In a mechanical universe run by impersonal laws of gravity, motion and natural selection, people are no longer seen as image-bearers of a personal and loving Creator, having authentic value and special significance as God’s co-workers on Earth. They are cogs in a Big Impersonal Machine. When Newton’s God is removed from Newton’s Laws, the universe is a mighty cold place indeed. As C. S. Lewis put it: “Always winter, never Christmas.”

After 300 years of Modernism, a sense of spirituality had been leeched from the mainstream of Western culture, especially in Europe. Young people of the ‘60s turned to alternative worldviews that offered some replacement value. They looked for it in a wide range of places. Some turned to Eastern religions, such as Hinduism (as with the Beatles), some, thankfully, turned to Christianity (as with the “Jesus People”), and many turned to psychedelic drugs.

By the 1990s, the young people who had rejected The Modern Establishment became The Postmodern Establishment. I call it the “Establishment of Multi-ism.” This is the best way I knowhowdescribe it. It is a place where every man does what is right in his own eyes.

But this is nothing new. It’s a recurring cycle in human history. Eventually things turn around. God has His ways of intervening. We’ll have to wait and see which way He chooses this time.

A SILVER LINING

In spite of certain negative by-products of Postmodern thought we’ve discussed, there are some positive aspects to Postmodern times. For followers of Christ who are living and working in a Postmodern world, the positive aspects of Postmodern times can be a great blessing in disguise. Followers of Christ would do well to recognize these blessings and make good use of them.

One of the most insightful books I’ve come across in recent years dealing with how followers of Christ can relate well to co-workers in Postmodern times, is Going Public with Your Faith: Becoming a Spiritual Influence at Work, by William Peel and Walt Larimore. If you only read one book on this critical topic, let this be the one. I am indebted to Peel and Larimore for some of the ideas contained in this chapter. The authors are particularly good at explaining the ramifications of Postmodern thought with respect to evangelism. In order to fully appreciate these ramifications, it helps to know what the silver linings of Postmodern times are.

What are the silver linings? For starters, overconfidence in autonomous human Reason (as the ultimate guiding light and final arbitrator of what is really real) is being corrected, and with this correction a door has been opened for alternatives.

While many people had dismissed Christianity during Modern times (God could not be put into a test tube for observation and measurement), the Postmodern mind no longer depends upon observation, measurement and analysis by the five senses to determine what is really real.

While this turn of events has opened the door to the occult, and to a fascination with the paranormal, it has also opened the door for a return to a biblical form of Christianity. By “biblical form” I mean a form that embraces God as a personal Being who actually hears and answers prayer, and embraces a living relationship with the Holy Spirit, who is very present, very active and very real in everyday life including the classroom, the neighborhood, the office and the shop. While some people in the Modern Age had predicted religion would disappear, Christianity is experiencing a resurgence in many parts of the world today, such as in South America, Africa and Asia. (But so is Islam.)

Postmodern times also opened the door to the idea that people have eternal souls. It is no longer considered unreasonable or strange to believe in life after death. This has opened the door for conversations about the afterlife, and things surrounding this topic, without coming across weird.

Another blessing of Postmodern times flows out of the above: Discussions about spiritual matters are generally OK these days. Thanks to the Postmodern Turn, “spirituality” is big in our culture. If it wasn’t, Oprah [a T.V. talk-show host of the recent past] wouldn’t have had the high television ratings she had. “Spirituality” is a part of the conversation in Postmodern

times. This is a turn for which followers of Christ can be thankful, because we can enter into the conversation innatural and normal ways. Although a Christian’s understanding of “spirituality” may be different from what others conceive as spiritual, a door to the conversation is open.

Think and Discuss: What signs do you see that indicate an interest in “spiritual” topics today?

Another silver lining of Postmodern times is this: the importance of authentic relationships is being rediscovered. “Get real” has come into the mainstream of our vocabulary. For followers of Christ in today’s workplaces, the relevancy of this silver lining cannot be overstated.

An authentic relationship is a relationship characterized by honesty, reliability, sincerity, non-self-centered interest and openness. This kind of relationship requires time to cultivate. It also requires some proximity. By that I mean, such a relationship can only develop as people are close enough to each other to observe how a person lives his or her daily life. The perfect place for this to happen is in the workplace. It happens when a worker sees how another worker responds to difficulties, pressures and temptations, as well as to success, promotion and adulation. This is why the workplace is such a great place for authentic relationships to be cultivated.

We’ll look at some practical ways to cultivate authentic relationships with non-Christians in the workplace. But before we do, let’s remember that for many Postmoderns, watching the life of a follower of Christ in the workplace may be the only “Bible” they will ever read. For many Postmoderns, this is the kind of “book” they prefer to read.

Bear in mind that for a committed Postmodern, the matter of whether Christianity is “true” or not is not really the biggest issue. “We live in a day,” write Peel and Larimore in Going Public with Your Faith, “when men and women are no longer arguing the validity of Christianity (of course it’s valid, they say, just as Hinduism, Islam, and Native American spiritism are valid). The question is not validity, but relevance.”

This is worth repeating: The big question is not validity, but relevance.

Now this isn’t to say that our reasoned proofs for the truth of Christianity are unimportant. At the right time (when people ask) they certainly are important. But as far as most Postmoderns are concerned, the last man that appeared in video #10 spoke for many Postmoderns when he declared, “It’s not really that important to know. ” He went on to say that what is important (with respect to things like spirituality and morality), is “to live.”

Living out one’s spirituality in the workplace is more acceptable today than it was 50 years ago. It’s not hard to find classes these days on “workplace spirituality.” Being a “whole person” on the job is seen by many as a positive development, and certainly the cultivation of authentic relationships at work is an important part of today’s culture.

“Cultivation” is the right word. It connotes taking time and having patience. It connotes a high level of commitment. It connotes intentionality and steady growth. It connotes the work of a farmer rather than a circus barker.

The ramifications of all of the above for evangelism are huge. It changes the very connotation of the word evangelism from an “event” to a “process.”

As Bill Peel puts it in the video below, we would do well to go back to the farm for our model. [Video #11 is a reading by Bill Peel from Going Public With Your Faith, by Bill Peel and Walt Larimore, from pp. 14 and 57, published by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Copyright ©2003 by William Carr Peel and Walt Larimore. The photo of Mr. Peel in this video was used by permission.]

Watch

Back to the Farm

Approx. 1 minute

Think and Discuss: Do you agree? When it comes to the matter of “preliminaries,” in what way is making the decision to follow Christ similar to the decision to marry?

As Bill Peel put it, people aren’t necessarily interested in hearing us preach a sermon, but “they do want to see and hear what God is doing in their friend’s life.” This, of course, assumes that we have friends who are non-Christians.

HOW CHRIST-LIKE ARE WE?

While reading Going Public with Your Faith, I came to a section that stopped me in my tracks. The authors posed this simple question: “How Christ-like are you?” My mind immediately began to consider matters of character, thinking about whether or not my character and attitude resembled Christ’s. But this isn’t where the writers were headed with the question. I soon realized that the authors’ answer to the question of how Christ-like I am was found (at least partially) in how many non-Christian friends I have!

As Christians living in a post-Christian culture, most of us have a natural tendency to gravitate toward fellow believers, and to focus our friendships in this direction. This is understandable. [“Bad friends corrupt good morals.” I Cor. 15:33.] But when we do this to the exclusion of developing authentic relationships with non-believers, we miss out on one of the greatest opportunities Postmodern times has brought our way.

Jesus had a reputation as a person with many friends who did not share His uniview. The religious leaders of the day criticized Jesus for the company He kept. He was criticized as a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Jesus invested so much time with these people, often going to their homes for supper, that he earned a reputation as a “glutton and a winebibber.”

Think and Discuss: Do you have many friends who are non-believers? If not, why do you think this is the case? If you have non-believing friends, do you feel your relationships

are characterized by a high level of authenticity? How does the biblical admonition of I Cor. 15:33, “bad company corrupts good morals,” apply? What cautions should there be?

Do followers of Christ in the workplace really know who their non-Christian co-workers are? To find out who they are, we can simply have normal conversations about normal happenings in our lives. We can find out what they think by asking natural questions about what truly interests them, or what occupies their time. Which brings us to another simple tip: Genuinely listen.

One day I had to take a plane from Seattle to Los Angeles for a speaking engagement. As I took my seat, a lady in the next seat politely said hello and began some small talk. She asked me what I did for a living. In my brief answer, it became evident to her that I was a “person of faith.” This opened a natural opportunity for her to tell me about her own faith. As she related her personal journey, she let me know that she was brought up in a Christian home, and that she rejected Christianity as a young adult. I was very interested to hear this, and asked her what it was about Christianity that put her off. I had a genuine desire to know. As I listened, she shared about her journey into Buddhism. What was it that attracted her to this worldview? I sincerely wanted to know. I had no compulsion to engage in debate, or to show her the errors of her thinking, or prove to her that the Bible is the Word of God. I had many genuine questions about her interest in Buddhism, and I asked many honest questions. I found her answers fascinating, and I also found her story to be typically Postmodern. She had a keen interest in spirituality, mixed with a picking and choosing of beliefs from a wide buffet of options. At one point in her life, she actually re-examined Christianity and incorporated some elements of “Christian mysticism” into her own personal buffet of faith.

The flight from Seattle to Los Angeles is about two and a half hours. After about two hours of asking authentic questions about her beliefs, with one question leading to another, and listening intently to her answers, there was a natural pause in the conversation. I was tired. Listening is hard work, and it requires concentration. I felt like we were finished, and I put my head back to rest. I would have been very happy to have spent the last 30 minutes of the flight in total silence. But after a moment, the woman turned to me and asked, “What do you believe?”

That was my invitation to speak. I knew from her tone of voice that this was not just a polite gesture on her part. She sincerely wanted to know what I believed, just as sincerely as I had wanted to know about her journey into Buddhism. So for the next 20 minutes, I honestly and openly shared with her what I believe, and she gave me her full and undivided attention, just as I had done with her. I started with the account of creation in Genesis, the entrance of sin into the world through the Fall, and the Good News of God’s provision of redemption through the sacrifice of Christ at the cross.

Did she receive Christ as her Lord and Savior right then and there? No. But she said she would think about what I had told her. I believe the Holy Spirit is able to bring back to her what I shared, long after we parted. The reason I relate this incident is to underscore the fact that when people are asked sincere questions about what they really believe and why they believe it, they are more likely to eventually ask what you believe. It may take hours or weeks before they ask, but responding to sincere questions from non-Christian co-workers is a whole lot better than answering questions they are not asking.

Spiritual Influence at Work

Cultivating authentic relationships with co-workers isn’t rocket science. It’s basically a matter of being an authentic “LOP.” What’s a LOP? It’s a Lover Of People. What does it mean to be a LOP in the workplace? It means we are patient with our co-workers. We genuinely care about their well-being, and express it through action. We affirm their abilities and celebrate their successes. We do not try to impress them with our own successes. We are civil and polite. We do not take advantage of them. We are not irritable with them. We forgive and forget their offenses. We encourage their honesty, and discourage dishonest ideas. We help them lift heavy workloads. We believe in them. We hope for their best. We stick with them through tough times, and we are there for them when they really need us.

If all this sounds familiar, it’s because you have just read I Corinthians 13:4-7 applied to the workplace. This is one time when it’s OK to be LOP-sided!

Think and Discuss: How can you specifically apply I Cor. 13:4-7 to your workplace? Give some examples of what you could do, that you are not currently doing.

WWID?

While cultivating authentic relationships and being genuine LOP-sided person in the workplace are important aspects of what it means for us to live out our faith at work, oneofthe most effective ways to be a spiritual influence at work is in the way we actually do the work itself. Here the goal is simple: Work well.

But what does it mean to “work well?”

One of the most significant verses in all of Scripture that speaks directly to the matter of “working well” is Colossians 3:23-24. “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”

No doubt you have heard the saying popularized years ago by the letters WWJD. The letters stand for, “What Would Jesus Do?” The implied fuller question is, “What would Jesus do if He were in my shoes?” But let me pose the question a bit differently, and apply it to the workplace. Let’s change the “J” to an “I” and turn WWJD into WWID.

WWID stands for, “What Would I Do?” The implied fuller question becomes, “What would I do if Jesus was in my co-worker’s shoes?” Or, “What would I do if Jesus was my client?” “What would I do if Jesus was the owner of the car I’m repairing?” “What would I do

if Jesus owned the fund account I’m managing,” or, “...if Jesus was the recipient of the mail I’m carrying?” or, “…if Jesus was sitting in this classroom?”

Think and Discuss: Fill in the blank, as it applies to your own work: “What Would I Do if Jesus was ________________________________?” How does posing the “WWID” question make you think about your own work, or about the people you work with and for?

Asking the WWID question is a great way to get quick perspective on what it means to do particular work “as for the Lord.” We never know who our next customer or new coworker will be, or whether that person will be a pleasant person to work with or a pain. But if we serve that person as though he or she were the Lord, it can make a significant difference in the way we approach our work!

Matthew 25: 31-40 records some powerful words of Jesus along these lines. He declares: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

Most of us will read these verses divorced from the context of the workplace, unless our work happens to be in the area of relief work, or prison ministry. But seen in light of Colossians 3:23-24 (Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord...for you serve the Lord Christ), is it possible to see your everyday work as an opportunity to serve the Lord through serving others?

FLOW AUTOMOTIVE

Don Flow is the owner and CEO of Flow Automotive. He believes that God gives him daily opportunities to serve his customers, clients and co-workers in the name of Christ, and that he can do this through the way he runs his car dealerships and automotive service centers. Flow Automotive is comprised of thirty-two auto dealerships located in North Carolina and Virginia, employing about 900 people For a brief introduction to Mr. Flow, to his uniview, and to his company values, watch the following video.

Watch

Don Flow on Flow Automotive

Approx. 4 minutes

Here is someone making intentional alignments [pun intended] between his biblical uniview, his company values, and his company’s behavior, as illustrated below. In his speech at Seattle Pacific University, Don Flow asked what it really looks like to “live love” in the workplace. His answer was, “it means expecting God to break into our daily life, giving us the opportunity to care for people in the name of Christ.”

From this premise, many values of the Flow Automotive Company have been formed, and company policies have been shaped. And in the end, good culture has been created. Not only the culture of a particular automotive company, but the wider culture of an entire community has been influenced by the uniview of one man. A man who chose to live out the implications of his faith in the context of the workplace. If we write out Don Flow’s alignment of biblical faith with work on paper, like we did earlier with the beliefs of Max DePree, it looks like this:

PARTICIPANT GUIDE REVIEW of CHAPTERS 13-18

Play this animated video with your Participant Guide in front of you (here). As the various blanks in the video are filled in, write the text in your Guide: click here

Chapter Nineteen

Responding Rightly When Things Go Wrongly

No matter what kind of work we do, there are times when things “go wrong.” Take the case of the ice fisherman seen in the next video:

Watch

A Day in the Life of a Fisherman Approx. 10 seconds

Responding rightly when things go wrongly is one way to experience God’s pleasure in work. In addition to a sense of deep satisfaction (although at the time it may be painful), the workplace provides some of the best opportunities on earth for demonstrating the reality of our faith to a watching world. We can be sure that when we respond rightly when things go wrongly, co-workers and customers will notice. And they also notice when we respond wrongly.

Of course, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up when we respond wrongly. The important thing is to learn from our mistakes so we will be better prepared for the next time. John Maxwell, a popular speaker/writer on workplace issues, calls it “failing forward.” One of the wonders of Christianity is forgiveness of sins. Repent, receive forgiveness and move on.

THE AMAZING DAILY GRACE OF GOD

Responding rightly when things go wrongly necessitates the grace of God operating in our daily lives. Holding our tongue when we want to chew somebody out, or going back and fixing a mistake at our own expense doesn’t come naturally. It requires something supernatural the grace of God.

If we’re having difficulties responding rightly when things go wrongly, the answer is not more willpower, or to simply “think positively.” Although counting to 10 may be helpful, significant help only comes when we get to the root of the problem.

The key to responding rightly when things go wrongly is found in Philippians 2:13: “...for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Experiencing God’s pleasure in work necessitates God’s daily grace working in us, not only to enable us, but to give us the very will to do it. I appreciate the way the Amplified Bible sheds light on Philippians 2:13. To understand the context of this verse, I’m including verse 12. Read these verses with the workplace as a backdrop:

“Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and

awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ). [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.”

This is the grace of God at work: energizing and creating in us the power and desire, both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

Think and Discuss: Think of an occasion when God gave you the will and the desire to do something that was not your “normal” self, enabling you to respond rightly when things went wrongly, and to experience God’s pleasure in it. If you are comfortable sharing your story with your group, do so.

Whether it comes to responding rightly when things go wrongly or cultivating an authentic friendship with a co-worker, the daily grace of God is a necessary ingredient in either case. It is God’s daily grace that gives us the will and the ability to do the right thing when it needs to be done, in the way it needs to be done, and in the time it needs to be accomplished.

The key, then, to doing the right thing lies in loving the right God. For if we really love Christ, we will keep His commandments, as a natural, normal response. We won’t have to “try.” Getting the cart to follow the horse in this regard makes all the difference in the world. The focus, here, is not on doing the right thing, but on loving the right Person.

Watch

The Ultimate Relationship Approx. 2.5 minutes

THE ULTIMATE RELATIONSHIP

The grace of God in our daily lives flows out of a personal relationship with Him. When we are connected with Christ, like a branch is connected with a main trunk, fruit “happens.” It is not by the work of our own human effort, but rather the natural outcome of our relationship with the Lord. That’s grace.

As Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” In the preceding verse, He says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” This is plain language. Paul describes this “vineand-branch” relationship as being “in Christ.”

No one comes out of the womb “in Christ.” We can only enter into a relationship with Him later, through the “second birth,” when we are old enough to exercise faith to believe Christ died for our sins and rose again, and we turn from our autonomous, independent ways to submit to Him as our personal Commander and Chief.

Thankfully, this kind of faith is a gift from God! I was eight years old when I came to believe that Christ died for my sins and rose from the dead, and I received Him as my Lord and Savior. My mother led me to the Lord at my bedside one night.

While this might sound rather casual for such an important matter, it was not. I remember it like it happened yesterday. It was truly a profound event, and the beginning of a life-long adventure.

Think and Discuss: If you are a follower of Christ, do you recall when you first believed in Christ and embraced Him as your Lord and Savior? If you are willing, describe this event to your group.

This leads us to Big Picture Piece #7: At the cross, Christ took upon Himself the sins of the human race in order to bridge the relational gap between us and God, and to provide a way of forgiveness through faith in His death on our behalf. [John 1:10-13, 3:14-17; Rom. 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10] This is the first Big Picture Piece of that part of the biblical uniview story known as “Redemption.”

At the crux of experiencing God’s daily grace in the workplace is an on-going flow of “sap” between the Vine [Christ] and His people. When this flow of God’s daily grace is a reality, we see things in radically different ways. I believe the restoration of that relational gap [being “grafted” into the Vine] is the only hope for a genuine transformation of culture, whether it is the culture of a family, a school, a company, a community or a nation.

Ken Eldred wrote 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. There are no shortcuts. Person by person, hearts and minds must be transformed, and thus the culture of a nation begins to change… 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 spiritual transformation through a personal relationship with God.” Well said.

GENUINE FREEDOM

A person who is living by the daily grace of God, and responding rightly as an outcome of this daily grace, is someone who is truly free. But since “freedom” means different things to different people these days, let me camp a bit longer here.

Perhaps the best description of freedom I know is: self-government under God.

This concept of freedom was understood in the early years of U.S. history, when “selfgovernment under God” was nearly synonymous with “liberty.” Many of the early settlers risked the journey across the Atlantic in order to be able to live out this idea in the New World. But today, the phrase “self-government under God” is rarely heard, or even seen in print. That’s because the definition of “liberty” has radically changed over the years.

Take, for example, this description of “liberty” from the 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life."

Really!?

This is Postmodern thinking. If you carry this idea to its logical conclusion, you can justify just about any action you wish, including the killing of pre-born infants, or letting males who “self-identify” as females use the women’s bathroom and shower room.

A biblical concept of liberty, on the other hand, is just the opposite: At the heart of liberty is the acceptance of God’s right to define our concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.

What is freedom? This brings us to Big Picture Piece #8: Genuine freedom is the internal self-control that comes from self-government under God through the enablement of the Holy Spirit, regardless of the circumstances.

Postmodern thought has glorified the “self-government” part, and virtually eliminated the “under God” part. It’s the “under God” part that irritates a lot of people today. But without the “under God” part, the “self-government” part goes very wrong, very fast. What’s more, without the “under God” part, the continuance of genuine freedom itself is in jeopardy.

This is because the more people there are in any given culture who lack the internal selfcontrol that comes from self-government under God, the more external controls are required to keep society from self-destructing. It is as true for the society of a country as it is for the society of a company, a school or a family.

This was dramatically demonstrated by the implosion of a number of large corporations in 2002, including Enron, Tyco, Global Crossing and WorldCom.

Prior to that time, the accounting practices of all U.S. corporations were largely selfgoverned. Companies were largely free to regulate themselves, within reason. But when companies started practicing accounting methods that were deceptive and misleading, it resulted in the collapse of whole corporations, and a lot of pain and misery for the people who worked for them. Then the U.S. Congress stepped in and enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a document of external controls to which all U.S. corporations are now subject.

Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey wrote in How Now Shall We Live: “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.”

In other words, the more people there are who lack the internal self-control that comes from self-government under God, the more external controls we can expect from civil government.

RobertWinthropsaiditwellin1852: "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."

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be controlled by a power within, than by a power without.

THE LOST KEY OF THE FREE-MARKET SYSTEM

Self-government under God is the lost key of the free-market system. Without it, the system runs amuck. That’s because trust is essential for a flourishing economy, and selfgovernment under God produces trustworthy individuals. Postmodernism does not.

As stated in Chapter Sixteen, when people leave God out of the mix, business leaders are more easily swayed by greed, employees are more apt to pilfer and embezzle, Chief Financial Officers cook the books to make it look to stockholders like things are much better than they really are, mathematical upstarts design complex formulas to create profits out of thin air, sellers of securities bundle bad loans with good ones and sell them to unsuspecting buyers and the list goes on, and on.

As a result, what happened in 2002 happened again in 2008, only on a much wider scale. People suffered. Savings were lost. Credit was frozen. Trust was eroded. The economy went into a free-fall, and regular people who were just trying to do a full day’s work for a full day’s pay lost their retirement not to mention their jobs. Fear spread like a pandemic.

Borrowing money from China and printing more dollars to solve the problem is no fix at all. It fails to get to the root of the problem, which is a spiritual matter (and a worldview matter), not an economic matter.

Until the root problem is addressed, economic failures are destined to repeat themselves. As I write these words, our nation is now said to be in the worst economic state since the Great Depression. We are also in the midst of the greatest level of government control of business our country has ever seen.

We don’t need an economic stimulus package as much as we need a spiritual stimulus. As John Beckett would say: one person at a time, one relationship at a time, one family at a time, one company at a time, one community at a time.

To see genuine freedom restored to the marketplace, we must see a resurgence of the kind of people who are controlled by a power within, who are experiencing the amazing daily grace of God to respond rightly when things are going wrongly, and when things may seem to others that they aren’t going wrongly.

In the next chapter, we’ll take a look at such a person. His name is Jack vanHartesvelt.

Chapter Twenty

The Difference One Life Can Make

When we align the biblical uniview with our workplace values and behavior, there is sometimes a price to pay. I’m not talking about losing our jobs, our paychecks, or our positions, necessarily. I’m talking about losing our lives!

In Luke 9:23-26, Jesus made this very sobering statement: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels."

What is very interesting about the above statement, is that Jesus put the great truth of “dying to self” into the context of the workplace, when He asks, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world…?” In this chapter, we’ll meet a businessman who decided to stop holding on to his own life, but lose it for the sake of Christ. He got tired of doing things the “customary way,” and determined to do things God’s way.

Jack vanHartesvelt has an unusual job. He buys and sells hotels for an investment management firm. About two weeks before I taped the interview you will see in video #16, Jack was involved in the sale of a New York City hotel for one million dollars per room.

In the high finance world of hotel purchases and sales, can a person really align biblical uniview premises with workplace values and behavior? You decide:

Watch

The Difference One Life Can Make Approx. 12 minutes

At some point in his youth, Jack vanHartesvelt discovered a biblical truth that stuck with him: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

The Golden Rule sounds good in Sunday School. But does it really apply to the “real” world of big business? Jesus seemed to think so, and so does Jack.

Think and Discuss: Does it? We’ve seen how it applies to Mr. vanHartesvelt’s world, but how does it apply to your work world?

Jack’s story is a powerful example of what it means to integrate one’s faith with one’s work, and it dramatically demonstrates the difference one life can make. To do what Jack did

requires action steps that truly appropriate the grace of God. It doesn’t come naturally to the human heart.

But as Jack pointed out, “You do better, you don’t do worse!” He then posed the question, “I don’t know why everybody doesn’t do this.”

Think and Discuss: Why doesn’t everybody do this? What would happen to our economy (and our culture) if everyone operated the way Mr. vanHartesvelt does in the business world?

Because of Mr. vanHartesvelt’s understanding of biblical uniview truths about serving others, being transparent and honest, and not just seeking the best for oneself but the best for others, he was able to make some important changes, by God’s grace and enablement. He recognized that the world’s typical way of doing business was “baloney.” Because he had a biblical uniview, Mr. vanHartesvelt was able to tell the difference between God’s truth and the world’s “baloney.” He acted on God’s truth and turned away from the world’s baloney.

Chapter Twenty-One

“But I’m Just a Hairdresser!”

When you get into the adult workforce, you have to get used to the question that inevitably comes up when you meet someone new: “What do you do for a living?” Or, has anyone asked you, “What will you do after you graduate?”

If society assigns great value to your work, you might be eager to share about your job, your position, and your accomplishments. Or what university you plan to attend. But if you consider your job to be less than important, or you’re going to a trade school instead of a university, perhaps you dodge the question.

Society has created a workplace hierarchy and assigned more value to some jobs and less value to others. But as followers of Christ who want to serve with intentionality in the Kingdom of God, we need to see the significance of our work and the work of others from the perspective of Christ Himself. To do so, it is important that we understand what it means to do “the work of the Lord” in the context of whatever work we do, as Paul told slaves in Col. 3:23.

So far, we’ve looked at some remarkable examples of faith at work in the lives of such notable people as Max DePree, Don Flow and Jack vanHartesvelt. Two are CEOs of large companies, and one a multi-million-dollar negotiator. It is easy to look at those examples and think, “But I’m not a CEO. I’m not making multi-million-dollar hotel sales. I’m just a student…a clerk...an assembly line worker...a homemaker.”

Yet none of us are in a position to minimize the difference we can make in the world when we integrate our faith with our work in practical and honest ways.

Let me introduce you to Paul Stevens, author of an excellent book on the theology of work, called The Other Six Days

For many years, Paul Stevens taught courses on theology of work and “everyday life” at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Don Flow attended. Later Stevens became a professor of Theology of Work at Bakke Graduate University, where I did my doctoral studies.

With Paul Stevens’ help, let’s explore the meaning of “Theology of Work,” and see how the work of a hairdresser can truly be as significant as the work of a CEO, a multi-million-dollar negotiator, or anyone else, starting with TDOCLM video #17:

Watch

“But I’m Just a Hairdresser!” Approx. 2.5 minutes

But can we really go so far as to say that the work of a hairdresser is “the work of God?” Really?

This begs the question, “What exactly is the work of the Lord?” Let’s hear more from Professor Stevens.

Watch

What is the Work of the Lord? Approx. 2.5 minutes

Here is what Gene Edward Veith has to say about it, in his excellent book, God At Work: “Our work is a participation in God’s creation.... Ruling, subduing, multiplying, causing plants to grow, making things these are what God does, and yet God gives them as tasks to human beings… God has chosen to work through human beings, who, in their different capacities and according to their different talents, serve each other.”

Randy Kilgore put it this way, in his Marketplace Moments newsletter: “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.”

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and BreakPoint, summed it up like this: “On the sixth day, God created human beings and ordered them to pick up where He left off!”

Based on these statements, one would have to conclude that the “work of the Lord” includes not only styling hair, but also repairing automobiles, doing lawn care, filing invoices, manufacturing furniture, being a student, building houses, homemaking and turning soybeans into printer’s ink! And it includes preaching sermons and feeding the hungry, too.

Think and Discuss: Do you agree that “the work of the Lord” includes styling hair and repairing automobiles? Can you see your work as “the work of the Lord?” Why or why not?

For some, all this might be a bit much to swallow. Most Christians tend to think it is the pastor and the missionary who do the real work of the Lord. But let’s listen to what Professor Stevens has to say about this:

Watch

Will the Real Minister Please Stand Up? Approx. 2 minutes

Have you ever heard a Christian say: “Someday I’ll quit my secular job and go into the ministry!”

If you think about it like Paul Stevens does, I hope you have a bucket near you when you hear it. The next time you hear someone say this, try asking if he or she is thinking about going into law enforcement or politics.

Law enforcement or politics? Yes. Consider the apostle Paul’s exhortation to Christians in Chapter 13 of his letter to the Christians inRome: “For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God… For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil… For because of this you also pay taxes, for they [civil authorities] are God’s ministers…” [NKJV, emphasis added]

Three times Paul refers here to civil authorities as “God’s ministers.” Are they doing the work of the Lord? Absolutely! Do they realize they are doing the work of the Lord? Some may, many don’t. You can be sure that in 1st century Rome, there were very few civil servants who understood they were doing the work of the Lord. Nonetheless, they were.

Does it matter if they realize they are God’s ministers? No. They are still God’s ministers. They are doing the work of God, whether they realize it or not. But what a joy it could be for followers of Christ who go into this field to actually realize they are God’s ministers, and doing His work!

Of course, there are times when civil leaders do wrong things. They don’t always fulfill their roles rightly. When they tell us to do something contrary to Scripture, we must obey God rather than men. This is when we may be thrown to the lions.

But imagine what would happen today if thousands of followers of Christ went into civil service with the total realization that they were going into ministry, doing the work of the Lord!

I am not suggesting an “ecclesiocracy” here. I am not suggesting that civil government be run by the Church! I am suggesting that individual followers of Christ who go into politics personally align their faith with their work in civil service, doing their work as for the Lord, seeing themselves as serving Christ by serving their constituents, and aligning their values and behavior with biblical premises, like Jack vanHartesvelt and Don Flow do in the business world.

This is what work is about, whether on the 51st floor of a downtown skyscraper, or in the Oval Office, or in the home. In The Other Six Days, Paul Stevens writes: “What is needed is a comprehensive biblical foundation for the Christian’s life in the world as well as the church, a theology for homemakers, nurses and doctors, plumbers, stockbrokers, politicians and farmers. As Gibbs and Morton said, ‘Recovering this…would be like discovering a new continent or finding a new element.’”

Think and Discuss: What do you think about all this? Consider 3 or 4 different careers. Consider how these careers are “the work of the Lord.” How could they be done in harmony with God’s ways? What difference could it make?

Chapter Twenty-Two

What in the World is the Kingdom of God?

Describing the Kingdom of God is kind of like the proverbial blind men describing an elephant. One touches the leg and says “an elephant is like a tree;” another touches the tail and says “an elephant is like a rope;” another touches the ear and says “it’s like a fan;” another touches the trunk and says “it’s like a snake;” and another touches the side and says “an elephant is like a wall.” Each man describes the elephant partially, after a fashion, but not fully, and therefore inaccurately.

What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase, “the Kingdom of God?” If you think of heaven, you are correct. If you think of life in the New Earth, you are correct. If you think of the Second Coming of Christ and the outcome of this great event, you are correct. If you think of the Church, you are also correct. But that’s not all the Kingdom of God is.

Every time the word kingdom appears in the New Testament, it is the Greek word basileia [bas-il-i’-ah]. If you look up basileia in the Greek dictionary of Strong’s Concordance, you will find the word means royalty, rule, or realm. It is derived from basileus, which means a sovereign.

If you go to an English dictionary and look up the word “kingdom,” you will find something like this: “A country ruled by a king or queen.” A kingdom is a domain or realm ruled by a sovereign. A “kingdom,” if you will, is a “king-domain.”

The “King-domain of God,” in the broadest sense, is “the domain over which Christ is King, and the jurisdiction over which He rules.”

This begs an important question: Is there any domain or jurisdiction (in heaven or on earth) that lies outside of God’s jurisdiction? If so, where exactly is this place?

I Chronicles 29:11 tells us: “…all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all.” That little word “all” covers a lot of space.

Psalm 103:19 says: “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.” All? That’s what it says.

Acts 10:36 says Jesus “is Lord of all.” Not that He will be Lord of all, someday, but that He is Lord of all, presently. Paul told the Colossians that Christ “is the head over every power and authority” (Col. 2:10, NIV), not that Christ will be head over every power and authority at the second coming.

The answer, then, to the question, “Is there any domain or jurisdiction (in heaven or on earth) that lies outside of God’s authority?” is an emphatic, “No.” There can be no domain or jurisdiction (in heaven or on earth) that is outside of, or exempt from, God’s authority, or exists outside of His jurisdiction, because it is all His: The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1).

In a geographic sense, the King-domain of God is as broad as creation is wide! It knows no boundaries whatsoever.

But this leads to another important question, “Is God’s rule being recognized and submitted to by every person on earth right now?”

The answer to this question is also an emphatic, “No.” You see, it is possible to be living in God’s King-domain, and yet at the same time be denying or ignoring His rule and authority. But ignoring or denying His rule or authority doesn’t negate the fact that Jesus is Lord of His entire domain. This is a fact whether people recognize Him as Lord or not, or whether they submit to His rule and authority or not. Even the Devil knows that Jesus is Lord of all and he trembles!

When a person receives Christ as Lord and Savior, that person does not “make” Jesus Lord. Jesus is already Lord of all! The person recognizes Christ’s rule and authority, and embraces Him as Lord. The person repents and submits to God’s rule. While we are all living in God’s King-domain (geographically) from the moment of conception, we are not of God’s Kingdomain until we submit to His rule.

Listen to the teaching of Jesus on this matter found in Matthew 13, illustrated in the video below:

Watch

Jesus on the Kingdom of God Approx. 2.5 minutes

Think and Discuss: Matthew 13 generates some very big questions. Are “sons of the wicked one” presently in the Kingdom of God? Are “things that offend” presently in the Kingdom of God? Are “those who practice lawlessness” presently in the Kingdom of God? If so, what are the implications of this for every workplace?

The answers to the questions above are: “yes,” “yes,” and “yes.” And the implications for every workplace are enormous! For example, right now, there are thousands upon thousands of car dealerships around the world. Millions of people are involved in buying, selling and servicing automobiles. Every person that is involved in buying, selling or servicing

automobiles is doing this work in the King-domain of God, whether they realize it or not. (There is no other place to do business!) The whole world is God’s “field,” to use the image in Matthew 13. But not every person involved in the car business is of the Kingdom of God. Some are, like DonFlow, but not everybody is. Some dealers “practice lawlessness,” and some “offend.”

The fact that every person on Planet Earth is presently living in the King’s-domain (geographically) means there is no work that lies outside of His jurisdiction. While there is certainly some work that lies outside of His will (such as selling drugs on the street corner), there is no work that lies outside of His jurisdiction, His realm of authority, or His KingDomain. Yes, selling illegal drugs takes place on God’s turf in His King-domain.

The chart on the next page, which you have seen before in Part I, illustrates that any work can be done in a manner that is in harmony with God or in conflict with God, in a manner that is of the Kingdom or opposed to the Kingdom. God created and sustains all matter that every business buys and sells. He owns it all. It’s all in His Kingdom (but not all of His Kingdom). When we eat at Little Louie’s Italian Restaurant, we’re not eating Louie’s food, really, we’re eating God’s food that someone on Louie’s staff ruled over in Louie’s kitchen. And we’re eating it while we’re sitting on a chair that God is holding together by the word of His power! Jesus is Lord of Little Louie’s Restaurant whether Little Louie acknowledges Him as such or not. But here’s the catch: Little Louie might be putting sawdust in his sausage!

Any of the activities on the list below can be done either in harmony with the will of God, or in opposition to His will. It all depends on whether the people who perform the work are performing it in a manner that is of the Kingdom or not of the Kingdom. This concept is illustrated in the graphic below:

Consider Paul Stevens’ comments on God’s Kingdom in video #22: Watch

Paul Stevens on The Kingdom of God Approx. 3 minutes

Jack vanHartesvelt, as we witnessed in Chapter Twenty, chose to align his work with the Kingdom of God. He sought Christ’s Kingdom first. He put it before his paycheck.

If we are living within the borders of the Kingdom of God right now, and the rule of the Creator-Sustainer is a present reality, why then did Christ teach us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come…?” (Matt. 6:10)

I believe it’s because there is both a present expression of the Kingdom and a coming expression. They are not exactly the same expressions. To put it in the context of Matthew 13, the coming Kingdom is "the Kingdom without weeds." The Kingdom where “all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness” have been removed (Matt. 13:41). Until then, God's present King-domain contains “weeds.” Even so, it is His Kingdom, with or without the weeds! In its current state of disrepair, the whole “field” of Planet Earth, and all it contains, is the Creator-Sustainer’s own possession (Psalm 24:1).

Does this mean Jesus owns everything in The Boeing Company, and the Boeing manufacturing plant, just miles from my home, lies within the realm of Christ’s rule, under the jurisdiction of His Kingdom? I would say, “Yes.” Jesus is Lord of all (Acts 10:36), whether The Boeing Company recognizes Him as such or not.

Why does all this matter? The ramifications of this truth for our everyday work are enormous. It means there is no type of earthly work that can be done outside the King-domain of God, because the jurisdiction of Christ’s rule extends over every human activity, and there is no earthly occupation that takes place outside the borders of the King's domain.

It gets very practical. If I’m building airplanes, I’m molding and shaping His “stuff” into machines that fly through His King-domain. This gives building airplanes a sublime dimension, and it gives all work an awesome significance: It is His world we are working in, and His stuff we are working with. If I’m sweeping floors, I’m sweeping part of His King-domain. This brings extraordinary meaning and purpose to ordinary work.

But if I limit my understanding of the Kingdom of God to its coming full expression, and I fail to appreciate its present (albeit imperfect) partial expression, I'll tend to focus onthe age to come, and miss the significance of the here-and-now, including the full significance of my everyday work in God's present King-domain.

If we think Planet Earth is “God’s creation now disowned,” and we see Satan as “King of the planet,” we may see our sole purpose on Planet Earth as telling others how they can go to heaven when they die. I am not minimizing the importance of evangelism. But when we see the whole of God’s domain "in the light of His glory and grace," the things of Earth do not grow “strangely dim.” Quite the opposite.

When we view the Earth as “God’s good creation now broken,” and we understand our God-given role and assignment in it, then the Gospel truly is more than the Gospel of Personal Salvation. It is the Gospel of the Kingdom (the King’s-domain), which, in fact, is the term used in the Bible to identify the Gospel itself. Yes, it is Good News that my soul is saved from hell.

But that’s not all there is to the Good News, as Paul Stevens said. The Good News of the Kingdom is that Christ restores things as well as souls. What kind of “things?” Earth things!

I’m not suggesting that all things will be fully restored before Christ comes again. It is not possible for this to happen in the current condition of all things. But it is clear from Scripture that the “ministry of reconciliation” Christ gave us in this present life (II Cor. 5:17-20) is not limited to human souls (Col. 1:16-20). His King-domain does not just have to do with “spiritual things.” His King-domain is as broad as creation is wide.

The scope of Christ’s reconciliation extends to the whole of creation [all things in heaven and earth], which goes far beyond the human soul. The scope of His redemption extends to all that was affected by the Fall, and this is more than the human soul.

Colossians 1:16-20 says: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

To reconcile all things? Does that include business things? Artistic things? Civil things? Yes, "...that in all things He may have the preeminence...." God's plan is to reconcile not only people but things to Him. Things on earth! If we get this right, dualism is more difficult to swallow.

To summarize: the King-domain of God is here (Jesus is already Lord of all), and yet to come in its fullness; the King-domain of God is as broad as creation is wide: nothing lies outside of His lawful jurisdiction; the King-domain of God encompasses all of heaven and all of earth at once presently; the King-domain of God is larger than the Church, and not to be limited by it or equated to it; the King-domain of God extends over all other earthly institutions (both social and civil) yet has “tares” (sons of the wicked one) within it that will someday be removed.

“Kingdom work” can look like a Bible translator making the Word of God accessible to an unreached people group in Africa, but it can also look like Jack vanHartesvelt’s negotiating table, Max DePree’s management style, Don Flow’s automotive service, and a hairdresser making people beautiful. It all depends on whether the people involved in the tasks are doing their work in such a way that is of the Kingdom or not. Either way, everyone who is working in this world is working in His King-domain. There is no other place to work.

Please watch this brief interview of Pastor Dotun Regu, leader of The Kingdom Citizens Pavilion, in Jos, Nigeria, with Segun Gbolagun:

https://youtu.be/q9C3Jbe_DLc

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Biblical Uniview

Finder

In certain kinds of occupations, it isn’t possible to experience God’s pleasure at work. If you’re managing a brothel, or selling drugs, you need to find a different occupation if you want to experience God’s pleasure at work.

But, on the other hand, you may be engaged in a legitimate type of work and yet feel misplaced, and therefore having difficulty in experiencing God’s pleasure at work.

Dr. George Washington Carver was highlighted earlier as a man who truly experienced God’s pleasure in his work. But as Booker T. Washington, the head of Tuskegee Institute said, Carver was a poor administrator.

It would have been a mistake for Booker T. Washington to have placed Carver in a role of administration. And it would have been painful for Carver to work as an administrator. That kind of work just didn't match his strengths or his passions. Carver was best suited for the laboratory, and that's where he experienced God's pleasure best.

But even if we are doing work that fits our strengths well, every job has "chores" that drain us. No matter what kind of work we do, there are unpleasant aspects of the job we have to face. As a student, there are assignments you don’t want to do, and this won’t stop when you are out of school!

If you have a job that “energizes” you 60% of the time, consider yourself blessed! But if your work only energizes you a very small percentage of the time, you may do well to consider alternative work. [Of course, for students, dropping out of school is not an option. If you are having trouble seeing the purpose of school, learn to bring meaning to your work as a student.]

Thankfully, God has gifted certain people to counsel and guide others toward the kind of work that best fits the abilities and strengths God has given them. If you are wondering what workmight best fit your strengths, I suggest you meet with a qualified guidance counselor to discuss this one-on-one.

MANY PEOPLE DON’T HAVE THE LUXURY

As it is with students, many people don’t have the luxury of changing jobs. Many people around the globe are just glad to have work any kind of work!

I remember standing on some waterfront docks in Jakarta, Indonesia with Ray Bakke and fellow students from Bakke Graduate University. We watched as men hauled lumber off large sailing ships (that’s correct, wind-powered ships with no engines) by hand, individually carrying one long, heavy beam at a time on their shoulders. They worked like this for 12 hours, from 6:00am to 6:00pm, at a pay rate of $9 per day. I took the photos below:

You may feel like the kind of work you are doing has a lot of “chores” in it. But for some people around the globe, the entire workday is a chore more difficult than you can imagine.

As I watched these men at work in Jakarta, I asked myself, “If I was doing what these men are doing, could I really experience God’s pleasure in my work?” It was a test of my theology of work!

But when Paul wrote in Col. 3:23, “…whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord…,” he was writing to people who didn’t have the luxury of taking an aptitude test to find a better job fit. He was addressing slaves who had no choice about what kind of work they did for their masters.

Bearing Paul’s words in mind, it is safe to say that what we do is not as much of an issue as the attitude with which we do it.

I believe any follower of Christ can fulfill his or her primary calling through any kind of work, as long as that work is legitimate and does not violate the will of God.

Did I say “primary calling?”

Yes, I did. But when I use the term “primary calling” here, I’m not implying that some people are “called” to be butchers, others are “called” to be bakers, and others are “called” to be candlestick makers.

While it is true that God calls people to fulfill certain tasks (as in Acts 13:2, where the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”), a divine calling into a specific occupation is not normally mentioned in Scripture. While it is clear that Paul was “called to be an Apostle” (Romans 1:1), the Bible does not tell us he was “called to be a tentmaker.” Yet he did make tents, even as an Apostle.

No matter what varied occupations we may have, all followers of Christ have the same primary calling. While we may be concerned about having missed our “best job fit” (in terms of matching our strengths with our work), we shouldn’t be concerned about having missed our “calling.”

It is clear from Scripture that God’s primary calling is the same for all of us. And the wonderful thing is, we can fulfill this calling through any kind of legitimate work!

Even slaves were assured by Paul in I Corinthians 7:21-23 that they could fulfill their calling in Christ while yet remaining slaves. The issue is not the kind of work we do, but whether we are fulfilling our calling to follow Christ in whatever work we do.

ALL FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST ARE CALLED TO THE SAME THING

All followers of Christ are “called to be saints” (Romans 1:5-7). All followers of Christ are “called into the fellowship of Jesus” (I Cor. 1:9), and all followers of Christ are called to “follow His steps” (I Pet. 2:21).

Among other things, this calling involves being conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29), and letting our light so shine before others that they may see our good works and glorify the Father (Matthew 5:16). We can fulfill this primary calling while flying airplanes, driving trucks, sewing jackets and managing investment funds. We can fulfill our calling in Christ, whether we wear a blue collar, a white collar, the collar of a cleric, or no collar at all.

No matter what kind of work we may do, the biggest question is not, “Am I in the right place, doing the right work?” but whether we are responding the right way, with the right attitude, in whatever work we do, even when we are working like a “slave.” [Students may feel this way when working on certain assignments they don’t like, but are required to do by teachers. Or working on certain jobs they don’t like at home, but are required to do by parents.]

Think and Discuss: Do you sometimes feel like a “slave” in your work? When do you most feel this way? If you are not able to change your job or your work assignment, do you feel you can still fulfill your calling in Christ at work? If not, why not? When do you think it would be appropriate for a follower of Christ to look for a different job fit?

Whether or not we feel like a slave, or a misfit, there are certainly “chores” in our work that are unpleasant, stressful, and just plain difficult. These may be times when we wish we were in another line of work. It is in these times that gaining perspective is especially important. But it is also in such times of pain that getting perspective can be really hard.

THE BIBLICAL UNIVIEW FINDER

Sometimes, when things are troubling me, I find it helpful to get perspective by specifically putting whatever issue is bothering me directly into the context of the Bigger Picture of a biblical uniview.

I do this by using the twelve “Big Picture Pieces” that have been identified in this course.

Now is a good time to present all twelve Big Picture Pieces together in sequence, so we can see how the overall chronicle of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration flows.

On the Biblical Uniview Finder template, you will see the following 12 “big picture pieces:”

#1 CREATION:

1. The entire universe was spoken into existence by the Designer-Creator’s willing choice.

2. God caused all things to first appear, and He continuously sustains all things throughout the present.

3. The Creator-Sustainer is a personal Being.

4. Men and women are specially created in the likeness and image of God, with intrinsic value and inherent worth.

#2 FALL:

5. God has put in place non-optional, non-negotiable laws for our good, and when we disregard them, we hurt ourselves and others.

6. Since the Fall, human beings have experienced an internal problem with sin a natural “bent” to go our own way rather than God’s way, and to be a law unto ourselves.

#3 REDEMPTION:

7. At the cross, Christ took upon Himself the sins of the human race in order to bridge the relational gap between us and God, and to provide a way of forgiveness through faith in His death on our behalf.

8. Genuine freedom is the internal self-control that comes from self-government under God through the enablement of the Holy Spirit, regardless of the circumstances.

9. We live in a fallen world, which is not the way it was originally made to be, but we do not live in a forsaken world.

10. The earth and everything in it remains God’s own possession, and therefore it has great significance.

11. The First Commission given by God to humans is to govern over all the earth.

12. God purposes to do His will on earth as it is in heaven, and by His grace, He will work through redeemed people to bring His light to every sphere of life.

The above biblical truths make up what I call, The Biblical Uniview Finder. I hope this doesn’t come across too simplistically, and I don’t want you to see it as a “Steps to Success” gimmick, or a substitute for prayer and counsel from others. But I’d like you to view The Biblical Uniview Finder as a kind of “thought prompter” you can use to gain perspective on a particular crisis or difficult situation facing you at work (school or home). Or when you’re just not liking your work.

The object of using The Biblical Uniview Finder is to take time to look at a particular issue or workplace challenge through the lens of the biblical uniview, or, in the context of the larger biblical chronicle of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration, so the “pieces of life” can be understood in light of God’s Bigger Picture.

A “piece of life” may be a big mistake you make, being chewed out by your boss, or a co-worker who rubs you the wrong way, or someone saying something untrue about you, getting laid off, or, as in the example you will consider in a moment, being overlooked for a promotion.

Some difficult situations may be a signal that it is time to find another job (we must recognize that God sometimes speaks to us about job changes through difficult circumstances). But more often than not, God wants us to appropriate His daily grace in the middle of the difficult circumstances.

Francis Schaeffer once wrote: “The basic problem of the Christians…is that they have seen things in bits and pieces instead of totals.” I think he was saying we can’t see the forest for the trees. We don’t see the “total” picture that a biblical world-and-life view provides.

Certainly, the most important “total” that we can consider, when we are trying to make sense of the “pieces of life,” is the Big Picture of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration the biblical uniview.

That being said, I’d like you to practice using The Biblical Uniview Finder in connection with a real challenge facing Ivan, a follower of Christ who was overlooked for a promotion at work.

Ivan’s true story is found in Chapter 5 of a book called, Faith Dilemmas for Marketplace Christians, published by Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, titled, “A Thumb on the Scale of Justice.” To hear what happened to Ivan, and his response to it, view the video below:

Watch

Ivan’s Story

Approx. 2.5 minutes

Ivan’s problem is the same one we all have, of not being able to view the “pieces of life” in the context of a much larger whole that will help us to interpret the pieces properly, and act accordingly.

I’d like you to put yourself in Ivan’s shoes. Imagine being passed over for promotion and being deeply hurt or angry. (Or imagine having not received the lead role in the school play, while thinking you are by far a much better actor than the person who was given the role.) Then imagine sitting down and using the Biblical Uniview Finder to get perspective. Consider each of the twelve Big Picture Pieces, thinking about how each aspect of the Big Picture might have helped Ivan to respond differently than he actually did, had he taken time to put his problem into the context of the biblical Big Picture.

For example, consider the first Big Picture Piece: “The entire universe was spoken into existence by the Designer-Creator’s willing choice.” This could have reminded Ivan that life is not about him. It’s about the Lord and His purposes for us, and the planet He made and sustains. Also, if God is big enough to speak the universe into existence, He’s big enough for Ivan’s issues.

Consider the second Big Picture Piece: “God caused all things to first appear, and He continuously sustains all things throughout the present.” This could have reminded Ivan that God is sustaining him, and giving him his next breath. So let’s get this problem in perspective. The world did not fall apart because Ivan was overlooked. This should tell him something. God continues to sustain both Ivan’s breath and his boss’s breath for a purpose.

Take the third Big Picture Piece: “The Creator-Sustainer is a personal being.” This could have reminded Ivan that the Lord is a Person he could talk to about his feelings, and that this Person knows and understands him completely. He cares about Ivan.

You get the idea. Take a few moments to consider the ramifications of each of the Big Picture Pieces, and how they could have helped Ivan to gain perspective on his challenge.

For a blank copy of The Biblical Uniview Finder, click here

Think and Discuss: After you complete the exercise by considering how the Big Picture of a biblical uniview relates to Ivan’s situation, take some time to think about how the Big Picture relates to a troubling or stressful situation you are currently facing. If you are comfortable enough, share your personal Biblical Uniview Finder with a friend.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Vital Friends and Parting Thoughts

Friends can have a huge impact on our faith, our families, and our work. Having the right kind of friends, and recognizing their respective roles in our lives, can make all the difference in the world.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 is particularly fitting: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up…Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

John Beckett, Chairman of the Beckett Companies, who is highlighted earlier, the author of Loving Monday, has this to say about walking with fellow believers in the workplace:

Watch John Beckett on Relationships Approx. 2 minutes

In Tom Rath’s excellent book, Vital Friends [copyright ©2009 by Gallup, Inc.] he identifies eight specific roles that friends play in our lives. He calls the people who play these roles our "vital friends," and he says these are the “people we can't afford to live without.” Rath’s eight categories of vital friends are listed below, with a brief description of each. Think of specific people who fill these roles in your life. It's possible that one person may fill several roles. But no one person fills all eight roles:

A Builder motivates you to accomplish things; A Champion sings your praises to others; A Collaborator has similar interests; A Companion is always there for you; A Connector introduces you to others; An Energizer gives you a boost; A Mind Opener challenges you to think outside the box; A Navigator provides guidance.

After you recognize who the people are that fill the above roles in your life as “vital friends,” the next question to ask is, "Who am I a vital friend to?" There are people that need you, too! Don't hold yourself back when the time comes to play a vital role in their lives.

YOUR PERSONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

“Who is on your personal Board of Directors?” This is the question asked by Dr. Kathy Koch [pronounced Cook], founder of Celebrate Kids, Inc., Dallas/Ft.Worth, Texas To find the answer, take a few moments to go through Dr. Koch’s exercise below.

On a blank piece of paper, draw an oval like the one below to represent a board room conference table. At one end of the table, write your own name.

Then follow the three steps below:

1. Write about six other names around the table, of people who influence you the most, in a positive way. These people may be living or dead. They may be people you personally know, or they may be people you have never met, but you know them through books they have written or productions you have seen. These are the voices you turn to most often, and listen to most closely. These are the people that influence you the most.

2. List one or two words by each name that describe the reason that person is on your personal Board of Directors.

3. Write a note to one of your board members (a living one!), letting this person know that he or she is on your board, and why.

Here’s one last question: Is Jesus on your personal Board of Directors? If He is not, He can be! To truly experience God’s pleasure in our work, we must have a personal relationship with Christ. If you do not yet have that relationship, I invite you to visit John Beckett, at this website: www.lifesgreatestquestion.com. What he will share with you on this site can change your life. Forever.

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY CHUCK COLSON

Concluding Remarks by Chuck Colson

Approx. 3 minutes

PARTICIPANT GUIDE REVIEW of CHAPTERS 19-24

Play this animated video with your Participant Guide in front of you (here). As the various blanks are filled in, print the text in your Guide: click here

Chuck Colson with Christian Overman Watch