Faith, Work, and the High Court

The Bible gives us a filter through which we can evaluate our activities.  Here is a passage from 1st Corinthians 10:
31Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.32Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,33just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

The Bible encourages us to seek to bring glory to God - to honor His name, to testify to the people around us that Christ is in our hearts and that His Spirit lives in and through us.   So, we examine our outward behaviors and the inward motives by those standards.   We are called to serve the Lord as we serve other people, and in our service, we demonstrate the love of Christ, which can compel people to consider Him and receive His love, which can draw people into a saving knowledge of Himself.   We can be challenged to consider whether we are helping to win people or to repel them by our activities.

Colossians 3:17 is a relatively familiar Scripture, and it can encourage us as we think about our roles in this life and the places to which God has called us in this world.   Here are verses 16 and 17:
16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.17And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning two companies - Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties, who were in court to challenge the government mandate that their companies provide objectionable contraceptive, abortion-inducting drugs to their employees in their health care plans.  The Christian Post reports that out of the over 80 friend-of-the-court briefs filed in the case involving Hobby Lobby's challenge to the mandate, several referred to the work of noted New York City pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

Keller authored a book called, Every Good Endeavor, with Katherine Leary Alsdorf, the founder of the Center for Faith & Work, in 2012.

The book was cited in briefs by the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities and a joint briefing from the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Coalition of African American Pastors, the Manhattan Declaration, InStep International and 38 protestant theologians, including Rick Warren, Eric Metaxes and Ravi Zacharias.

The CCCU argued that the government's assumption that "seeking profit is secular and inconsistent with religious exercise is contrary to the teachings of many faiths."  Using the book, it contended that, "corporations can pursue profit while simultaneously exercising religion," citing the author's argument that "corporate profits...stewarded wisely, are a healthy means to a good end: They are vital to creating new products to serve customers, giving an adequate return to investors for the use of their money, and paying employees well for their work."

In the joint brief, the organizations made the case that, for Christians, there was no separation between religion and work: "The Christian doctrine of vocation teaches that all work is spiritual activity."

Some really good material here for us to apply to our lives.   First of all, I affirm what the writers have said and am delighted that these authors' work was used to defend the rights of these two companies to integrate their religious convictions into their policies.

A driving principle of my radio show has been to stress that the sacred and the secular are not to be separated - that would, of course, include the approach to our work.   We recognize that we are spiritual beings - fortunately, our spirits are united with Christ.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit not only empowers us in our work, but also can help us to recognize the deeper meaning behind our work.  I believe the work that we do can be a healthy means to a good end, as the authors said, and our view of money and profit should be shaped by the Scriptures.  We are not called to be greedy, and we have to watch that, but we are called to be generous in the resources God has allowed us to have.  The money we make can be a tool to be used by God, as we regard our financial resources as ultimately belonging to God, we allow Him to govern our financial choices.

Also, if we are attempting to follow the Scriptures and do all things to the glory of God, then we must evaluate how we are applying that principle to every single activity in which we participate. In our work, in our church, our other activities, we identify the positions to which we are called as opportunities to honor God.  So we work heartily, we serve mercifully, and we give generously, so that Christ might be seen in us.