Panel discussion excerpt from the Leadership Lecture Series - Biblical Wisdom for the Business World.
Recorded September 15-17, 2011 at the Talbot School of Theology Faculty Retreat in La Quinta, CA.
Finding God in Business
Business is a primary arrangement on God’s part for people to love and serve one another
The big question is What is God doing here?
God is always out in front of the church working in many ways
God is working for His glory
[We are not only made aware of God in the brokenness of the world, but also in the love of God and the good things He sends even to those who don’t acknowledge Him, e.g., rain on the just and unjust.]
Let your light so shine…
People want to hear about more than just career advancement
Private Property and Character
The individual is responsible before God
What kind of person am I becoming?
What God gets out of our lives is the person we become.
Our current life in negligible in length compared to eternity.
The kind of person we become will last forever.
The expenditure of energy (is it done under God) is the primary determinant of character.
Business is Ministry
Full time Xian service can happen in business
Work came before the fall
Struggling to See the Value of Work
Humans are meant to be inhabited by God and God is a worker. He projects him selves through the lives of individuals.
When we participate in work we [can] produce a value in terms of what God is already doing
We contribute to the lives of others in our work b/c work is a communal activity
Work is fundamentally God’s work
the effect of work is the development of persons
wealth comes in as a partner b/c if you have money your kingdom is extended
the glory of our future is continuing creativity in the life of God
Heaven is not going to be a resort
Process of surrender to God in work
reintegration of person into the KoG to exercise dominion is what work is about
work’s eternal significance:
1. outcome that is shared (allows us to give) and creative
2. what it does for me, growing character. should be learning how to act with God and others in the production of value
Spiritual Gifts in the Workplace
Do you expect people who run banks and schools to live in the power of God?
That’s what spiritual gifts are for
Abraham and Isaac were scary to people b/c God was with them
The blessing of Abraham: God was with him
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