Some of the thoughts in this series are taken from a series by Bruce Wilkinson, Leading a Company For Christ
Our Plarform
"But seek first His Kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6: 33
Free will is one of the greatest blessings from God. It is sometimes taken for granted until we see those in other countries that do not have the opportunity to share in this gift. God denied free will in two occasions. The first was when He cast out Lucifer and his angels from Heaven. For the angels that remained, God fixed their belief system where they had no choice but to love Him. The other time is when God gave us the responsibility to be priest. When God appointed the Levite tribe, every person born into the Levites was born a priest. They had no decision as to their vocation, they were priest. The same was true for every person born under Abraham. Every Jew was a priest. When a person accepts Christ as their saviour, they too are born into a Kingdom of priest.
The problem is that not all accept this doctrine and responsibility. The tendency is to become satisfied with eternal life and to live off this gift. Working on becoming a better person by being more honest, more loving, or more ethical becomes the objective of the day. But this is all inward driven. The idea that only "called" ministers have the responsibility to reach the world for God occurs when we separate our business life from our church life. We pay others to do what God has called every believer to do.
Ephesians 4: 11, 12 tells us - " It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelist, some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up." God has called the leaders of the church to train and equip the folks in the pews. It is also our responsibility to accept the training. Otherwise, we fall into the trap that our only purpose in business is to maximize profits. God tells us to seek his kingdom first and all these other things will be added as well. But we keep our eyes on the profits so WE can add these things. We have the better idea and we want to do it our way. This way, we can get the glory and credit for what we accomplish. Jesus then becomes just one more thing added to our lives, He is not the Owner.
Christ's desire is that we willingly use our business as a means to bring the people in which we come in contact to a closer relationship with him. When we accept what He has done for us, that all we have is a direct gift from Him, and that it is the eternal things in life that last, then we cannot help but seek His principles in our daily business practices. Through his Word, God has provided his guidelines on how we should treat debt, partnerships, hiring, firing, customers, and many other business situations.
There are many ways we can use our business as a platform. Several months ago I was introduced to a man in California who simply used his business as a means to provide for the needs of he and his family. His "real job" was his ministry to families. He was a tent maker.
Over the last twenty years, I have had the privilege of participating in small groups with other business men who are pursuing the same goal. It has been a miraculous blessing to see business men of all positions take this principle to heart. Lives have been changed, there has been a new purpose created in their work, and God's message and principles are being demonstrated with amazing impact. They have truly become a product of God's ownership. What ever their position may be, a platform has been created. They are not better than but different than. I will share many of their stories in a few weeks.
There has been periods of great revivals in our land over many years. The last revival occurred in the 70's with the Jesus movement. Some say the next great revival will occur in the marketplace. Our question is, will we be ready to be a part of making it happen?
Questions for thought
* Do you perceive yourself as a priest?
How would you see your role as a priest affecting certain areas of your business?
* What specific areas of the marketplace do you see a need for God to intervene?
