Wanted: Christian Disrupters at Work

"...when Christians work in the world, they will either assimilate into their culture and support the status quo or they will be agents of change.   This is especially true in the area of work.   Every culture works on the basis of a 'map' of what is considered most important.    If God and his grace are not at the center of a culture, then other things will be substituted as ultimate values.   So every vocational field is distorted by idolatry"  - Timothy Keller

For many of us, work is a destination - "we go to work".   Or we might think of work as a burden - "I'm swamped with work".   But we seldom think of work as an active cultural hotbed - a set of shared, functional values, goals and beliefs firmly held and practiced by those at our workplace.      

Tim Keller reminds us otherwise.    According to him, we have two choices when we engage our work environment - we can either assimilate or be agents of change.   Assimilation means adopting the values, goals and beliefs of the work environment - acquiescing to what the culture dictates as important or valued.  The workplace culture may teach us to value recognition or money or status.   It may instruct us on how to cut corners as long as no one catches you.  The corporate environment may promote the appearance, rather than the substance of a matter.   It may promote the brash and boastful rather than the meek and humble.  All around us daily, we're confronted by the values of the organizations we serve and we can choose to accept them or to listen intently to God.  

We can choose the alternative path - being change agents or disrupters for the sake of the gospel.  Stepping out as change agents for the gospel starts with watching our own hearts - getting our own functional values and core beliefs aligned with biblical truth. Keeping at the forefront of our hearts, the treasuring of Christ as the source of our joy.   Being change agents also means boldly stepping out to shape the cultural workplace by bringing to bear our beliefs and values formed in the hot furnace of biblical conviction.  What does this look like?   How about exemplifying grace by extending kindness to our co-workers when they deserve no such kindness.  On occasion, it may mean taking a stand on a biblically informed ethical issue when others see it differently.   Most of all, it means summoning the courage to speak gospel truth - calling our friends to turn away from their current course to follow Christ.  

As Keller succinctly concludes - every vocational field is distorted by idolatry.   We would be wise stewards of our vocations if we identify these false gods, disrupt the status quo and point the way to true satisfaction in the Eternal God.

Quote of the Week

"Love of neighbor - grounded in our love for God - requires us to work for good in the City of Man, even as we set as our first priority the preaching of the gospel - the only means of bringing the citizens of the City of Man into citizenship in the City of God."

Al Mohler, Culture Shift

Quote of the Week

"Christians are called to be exiles from the world, however personally painful that exile may be. they are supposed to be aliens to the world's darkness as they seek another city, "whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10)."

David F. Wells, God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams, p.41

Finding Significance in All the Wrong Places

Just read a great article by Mark Galli on Generation Y's pursuit to "make a difference" in the world. Mark Galli is the managing editor for Christianity Today and an insightful writer. He brings up a number of great points about how a well-intended focus to make a difference can really be "ego masked as altruism".

Think of it as the dark side to the search for significance and arguably, it's not simply limited to the Gen Y populace. Truth is, the striving for significance can be life long and unrelenting.

What makes this a confusing topic is that the desire to "make a difference" isn't necessarily bad. In fact, it most circles and circumstances, it's actually something to be admired. After all, far better the desire to make a positive impact than the trivial wasting of a life. After all, isn't the cultural mandate in Genesis 1 to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it", a command to make a positive difference in this world?

Yet, when the search for significance is not rooted in an understanding of our identity in Christ, it is a harsh master. Seeking significance can easily become another means for self-justification and self-glorification - "if I feed the poor and heal the sick, my life will matter". Finding our identity in what we do leads us to make idols of our own accomplishments. This is as true for the businessman who sacrifices family for fortune as it is for the misguided missionary who finds justification in his sacrificial good works.

What guides us toward a right pursuit of significance?

I believe it starts with rooting our identity and delight in God. Delighting in our place as creatures made in His image, restored into fellowship with our Father. Whenever, I depart from regular meditation on my identity in Christ and the work of grace in my life, I begin to strive for significance in various, small, unprofitable ways. If unchecked, this striving becomes louder and more prominent in my life.

We need to remind ourselves of the privilege we have to serve the living God, yet doing so in a very particular way - that is, serving with an awareness that God "is not served by human hands as if He needed anything since he himself gives to mankind life and breath and everything". (Acts 17:24). This means realizing that "service to God"is less about doing something for God as it is receiving grace from God. When we serve, we are the beneficiaries of his grace, to do his work.

Finally, the one point Mark Galli makes is one worth remembering - that God honors and recognizes the little things in our lives - the greeting of a stranger, the kindness to a child, caring for an aging parent. In other words, making a difference "in the small" matters as much as changing the world.

We Are Slaves Of What We Crave

You've probably heard about how "money can't buy happiness" but seldom from folks as wealthy as Austrian millionaire, Karl Rabeder. Mr Rabeder came to this realization and proceeded to put together a plan to give his $4.7M fortune away... all of it.

"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing."

Like many, Mr Rabeder used to pursue material wealth as a means to a happier life -

"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness,"

Even though he knew better, over the years he never had the courage to give up the trappings of the "good life". However, over time, he came to a new and counter-cultural conclusion - he was enslaved by his possessions.

"I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need...there are lot of people doing the same thing."

His conclusion upholds an unequivocal principle - "we are slaves to the things we crave".
We don't actually have to possess things to be enslaved by them... we only have to want or crave things for them to have a hold on our lives.

Jesus' words from Luke 12:15 serve as a sobering reminder for us -

"Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

It's not simply possessions that we are to guard against but rather against "all covetousness". We can be poor and yet covet. Unguarded, we could find ourselves placing our hopes of a better life in the riches and possessions of this world. The problem with coveting is that the treasure we pursue is not worthy of the purpose for which we were made. On the contrary, if we desire fellowship with God, we will find ourselves joyfully and satisfyingly captive to Him.

If like Mr Rabeder, we find that "we are slaves of what we want", then perhaps it would be appropriate to ask - "what is it that you really want and is it ultimately satisfying to your soul?"

Are You Living in Abundance or Scarcity?

It's a question of perspective - how do you view the world around you? Do you see a world limited by scarce resources or overflowing with abundance? This is a matter of huge importance for most of us. Living under the rule of scarcity can lead us to a hording, selfish mentality If we believe that success, wealth, ideas and valued resources are limited, we can be tempted to think "me first" and be less inclined to share.

But the Bible paints a picture of God as loving and generous to His creation.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights

Psalm 36:7-9

This is fundamentally important to us - if we believe that God created this world to be overflowing and abundant, our approach to life changes dramatically. We can rest knowing that God has provided this world with more than we need. Seeing God as gloriously generous and ultimately creative, shifts our perspective from hording to sharing. We can imitate our Creator by being generous with our time, our money or our success. Imagine the kind of life we would live as a result of believing in a loving and generous God who has created a world of abundance -

We would share accolades with others.
We would give generously to those who lack.
We would volunteer our time to worthy causes.
We would rather serve than be served.
We would value community more than privacy.
We would rather give than receive.

Quote of the Week

"Mercy is a command of God, yet it cannot simply be a response to a demand. It must arise out of hearts made generous and gracious by an understanding and experience of God’s mercy. It is the hearts of the congregation that must be melted until they ask, 'Where is my neighbor?' "

Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy, p.135

Two Ways to Live Our Lives

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein

I love the sentiment behind this quote even if I'm not completely certain of its attribution to Einstein. What's important is that it offers two views on how to interpret the world around us. The former view is one where God is disinterested or absent while the latter view presents a God active in His creation.

I believe the latter. There are "miracles" around us all the time. There are miracles found around the corner, in your neighborhood and your workplace. These miracles are often masked in the mundane grind of daily life. They seem more evident in times of blessing. They are sometimes covered by a cloak of trial or hardship....even then, if we look with eyes of faith, God is present and active.

Do you see the invisible hand of Providence in the various situations of your life? Do you see God in the blessings you receive? Are you comforted by Him in the trials of life? Is the Almighty at work in the mundane and the ordinary of your life?

This is the essence of a practiced Christian worldview - daily seeing the fingerprints of the Almighty God in the world around us.

Quote of the Week

The experience of our modernized world leads us to think of it not only as the absence of God but, as it turns out, the absence of human nature. This is no coincidence. The death of God is always followed by the death of the human being.

David Wells, Above All Earthly Pow'rs, p.48

Leadership Tip: Build a Culture of Encouragement

I spent some time this weekend thinking about how to build a culture of encouragement in my workplace and family. When your tendencies are to manage toward a performance based culture, encouragement can often take a backseat.

However, I'm also convinced that a culture of encouragement and a culture of performance is neither mutually exclusive nor incompatible. In fact, mature Christian leadership involves the cultivation of both performance and encouragement. Building a culture of performance without encouragement dehumanizes the work experience - it denies our identities as image bearers of the Creator God. After all, we're not just machines measured simply by virtue of productivity. In fact, every worker uniquely bears the image of the Creator with special character, gifts and abilities.

So how do we build a culture of encouragement? A friend was helpful in formulating thoughts around this. He offered that a culture of encouragement is one where encouragement is:

- Personal
- Specific
- Genuine
- Regular

But I also believe that biblical encouragement has an additional component - it brings to bear the reality of God at work in our world. It affirms the fact that each person is uniquely gifted and bears the image of God. It reminds us that God is at work in our lives - in our circumstances, plans, hopes and dreams. For the Christian, it brings the comfort of knowing that Jesus Christ has addressed our greatest need and promises that He will neither leave us, nor forsake us. This is the kind of encouragement I hope to bring to my family and workplace.

God@Work - Your Multiple Vocations

God@Work is a four part series held at my church to provide a biblical understanding of work - notes from the first session are posted here.

The second session of the God@Work series is on our multiple vocations. Many of us use the word vocation to mean a job or career but in fact, vocation has implications on primary areas of our lives - family, church, society and yes, our daily worklife. The word vocation is derived from the Latin word for calling (vocare).

The Reformation promoted a view of vocation that encouraged each person to see their work as a sacred calling. Callings are not reserved simply for the priests or pastors but in fact, God creates and equips each person in His kingdom to accomplish His purposes and plans in this world. Instead of seeing vocation as what we should or could do, the Reformers' emphasized God's work in and through our vocations. God uses us in our vocations to reveal himself to the world around us.

Our vocation starts with the Greatest Commandment from Mark 12:29-31

"Jesus answered, "... 'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ...'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Vocation starts with loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength... because He first loved us. His initiating love is the foundation of our vocation.

We are also called to love our neighbor. Vocation is played out, not only in extraordinary success but also in the realm of ordinary, daily life. We don't find vocation only in the realm of our job or career but also in other areas that God has called us to work in - family, church, society. You could say that vocation should be not viewed in the singular but in the plural - vocations in the spheres of life that God has called us to.

Workplace - we are called to serve our neighbor through our labor.

Family - we are called to serve as husband/wife, father/mother, brother/sister, grandparents

Church - we are called to serve in the local church community and for the advance of the gospel.

Society - we are called to serve our neighbor through charitable work, political involvement

All of these are callings to which God has called us. Not all of them carry equal weight. As an example: our calling as a husband or mother supersedes the call to bless the broader society through charitable work or political involvement.

Scripture will guide our priorities and emphasis. The important thing to remember is that all these callings are not in conflict but rather work in concert under God's guidance to bring about good in our lives and the lives of those around us. We also need the wisdom and fellowship from our church community to understand and fulfill these multiple vocations.

Quote of the Week

There is a kind of creation that only God can do.  For God to bring something into being required nothing other than his eternal, loving reality as a starting point.   We, on the other hand, always start in the middle of things, working with raw materials given to us by God and by the generations before us.

Andy Crouch, Culture Making, p. 104

Quote of the Week

"...Christians make a difference in this world by being different from this world; they don't make a difference by being the same."

Tullian Tchividjian,   Unfashionable, p. 9

The Gospel and Risk Taking

Risk taking - it's exposing ourselves to the possibility of loss or injury for the sake of gaining something of great worth.

The truth is that most of us are averse to risk - we hate it, we avoid it, we mitigate against it. We do everything we can to eliminate it. "Risk avoidance" is the secret idol in the hearts of most middle class Christians, myself included. We play it safe. We're not inclined to put our 401(K) plans at risk, much less our physical well being. We're so concerned about fitting in at the workplace that we're blending into the background. No risk of us being perceived as an irrational, fanatical Christian.

Yet, God calls us to pursue him whatever the cost. In fact He demands it. He calls us to do hard things like start God-glorifying ventures, take on risky projects, write books, share the gospel with our unreceptive co-workers and impact the world around us even at the cost of our reputations, money or in extreme cases, our lives.

Because of the gospel, Christians are better positioned to take risk than anyone else - we have the least to lose and the most to gain. Here's how the apostle Paul viewed his life in terms of risk and loss -

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him...

Philippians 3:7-8

His capacity for risk taking was enhanced by two factors - counting what he had as loss and counting what he stood to gain as immeasurable treasure. May God help us do the same.

Redeeming Culture

Last Saturday, I had the privilege to attend the Entrepreneurship Initiative (EI) Forum hosted by the Redeemer Center for Faith & Work (CFW). CFW's mission is to promote cultural renewal through the integration of faith and work. Through the EI Forum, I had an opportunity to meet several Christian entrepreneurs, executives, financiers and artists who are seeking to make a difference through their God given gifts and talents.

The event was kicked off by Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making. His big point was simply this - you don't change culture by critiquing culture or condemning culture or consuming culture. You change culture by making culture.

Simple but profound. If you buy off on his premise, it really highlights a huge limitation with the state of Christian activism today. It would appear that a lot of energy is expended to generating more boycotts of certain companies rather than building businesses that make a positive impact. Many Christians are swept up with concern about the anti-Christian bias in media rather than about developing new creative content that reflects the glory of the Eternal God.

Creating culture, not just consuming it or condemning it - that's how culture changes.

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Do you agree? Is changing culture even something Christians should be concerned with? What do you think?

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Sanctity of Life

This coming Sunday, January 18, 2009 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Since Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision legalizing abortions, there have been over 49 million abortions performed.

We've become so accustom to these kinds of statistics that it's easy to overlook of the scope of this atrocity. Even today, we're still horrified by the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center as we should be - 2,752 deaths in a single day is terrible indeed. But in 2003, there were over 3500 abortions performed every single day. Somehow as a nation, we're not as troubled by this.

We're sympathetic to the tsunami victims - approximately 169,000 lives were lost in this natural disaster. Yet, 49 million deaths since 1973 doesn't seem to affect us quite as much. 49 million is about the size of South Korea or Spain - an entire nation of babies has been lost.

As a nation, we no longer view life from a biblically informed perspective and we are lost because of it. The high value of a human life is ascribed by God himself in Genesis 1 -"Then God said, 'let us make man in our image, after our likeness". Imago dei -the image of God in us means that every life has value outside of our utility or function or viability. It means that human life is sacred.

This week, especially this Sunday, pray for God to be actively at work in our courts, our homes and our hearts so that life is regarded as holy and the wicked practices of abortion might be no more. Let's also pray for National Right to Life and other newer groups like Abort73 as they continue to labor on behalf of the unborn.

The Lost Art (or Science) of Persuasion

Years ago, I read a fascinating article on the work of Dr. Robert Cialdini.  Dr. Cialdini has spent his life conducting extensive research and study on the science of persuasion.  Are there actually scientifically proven principles that optimize our ability to persuade another person?   Cialdini believes so and he has codified six basic principles of persuasion -

1. Reciprocity - If you do something for me, I'm more likely to do something for you.

2. Scarcity -   What's more appealing - a slice of apple pie or the last slice of apple pie?

3. Consistency - Make a public commitment and you'll be compelled to live up to it.

4. Authority - If Dr. Robert Cialdini says so, it's got to be true, right?

5. Consensus - we're like lemmings...or sheep...we like to follow the crowd.

6. Likeability - if you like someone, you inclined to want to agree with them. 

I've found it incredibly insightful and I've carried the article around for years.  

 

I wonder if there's a connection to our cultural engagement as Christians.  When it comes to engaging the culture,  we're not into reasoning and persuasion anymore - at least not in the public square.   It's far easier to polarize around moral issues and feel like we're "standing up for Christ".    Perhaps it's more satisfying to draw battle lines than to engage our neighbor thoughtfully about his eternal destiny.   

As I've been reading through Acts, it struck me that Paul engaged the culture in a different way altogether. In Acts 17, while in Athens, he "reasoned in the synagogue...as well as in the marketplace day by day..."  In Acts 18, arriving in Ephesus, he "went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews".   In Acts 19, returning back to Ephesus, he "entered the synagogue and spoke boldly with them for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God".

I'm absolutely not suggesting that incorporating these principles will lead to conversions (that's a work of God alone), nor am I saying that it will lead to broad Christian influence in our communities.   But perhaps, there is some wisdom in Cialdini's work that could apply to how we might engage our world more effectively.  

What do you think?

 

Quote of the Week

"Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world"

Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984)

Kelly Tilghman vs Dana Jacobsen - Which is Worse?

If you're into sports, you've probably heard about the controversy surrounding Golf Channel announcer Kelly Tilghman. A couple of weeks ago she suggested on air that the only way to beat Tiger Woods might be to "lynch him in a back alley". Her off the cuff, poor attempt at humor earned her a two week suspension and significant criticism. After serving her suspension, she was recently back on the air, starting with a clear and sincere apology before diving into the substance of her work.

A lesser known debacle involves Dana Jacobsen, the ESPN anchor. In a celebrity roast for the hosts of the Mike & Mike show, she cursed like a sailor and used an expletive in reference to Jesus. ESPN's response was slow coming but under pressure by religious groups, they eventually gave her a one week suspension coupled with a weak apology.

I'm no social or cultural activist but this really bothers me. Let's see how the math on this works:

Humorously suggest lynching Tiger Woods - 2 week suspension
Curse and blaspheme Jesus Christ - 1 week suspension

Don't get me wrong - both are reprehensible but the outrage surrounding the "lynching" comment far outweighed the response to the Jacobsen's blasphemous tirade. It's a commentary about what the American popular culture functionally views as valuable and important. Let's face it - for mainstream popular culture, God doesn't really exist nor does He weigh upon the national conscience.

In short, the point isn't what these controversies say about Ms. Tilghman or Ms. Jacobsen - it's what it says about us. Make no mistake about it - this loss of the fear of God is a sad indictment on our nation.

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What do you think?

Tragedy at Virginia Tech

By now, we all know - the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech this morning has left as many as 33 dead, including the gunman. Some have called it the deadliest shooting in modern US history. For the friends and family of the deceased, it's an especially a sad day. May the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, comfort them in their grief and trouble.

Even for the rest of us, it is difficult not to be affected by such tragedy and senseless killing. It's a harsh reminder that we live in a fallen world, tainted by our rebellion against God. How can we make sense of this? I suggest reading this perspective on the Virginia Tech shooting from the Desiring God blog. It offers a view on how to care for those in suffering as well as a biblical perspective on suffering, evil and God's sovereignty.

Another good reference point on how to speak about this tragedy with non-Christians is the speech by Tim Keller, delivered at the 9/11 remembrance service last year in NYC. Great takeaways on how to identify with suffering (as we rightly should) and yet introduce the hope of the gospel.