Why Christians Ought to Make a Difference in the Marketplace---by David L. Bahnsen

I have heard it said in my life on more than one occasion that God sent his Son to save souls. Indeed, for evangelicals, that is certainly true. However, for the professing believer who talks of a deep concern for individual souls my question and answer will either be a gigantic disappointment or it may be a true experience of edification. While all Christian men and women ought to be interested in the salvation of individual souls (God is truly in the redemption business) I contend that, as Leslie Newbigin masterfully argues in his gem of a book, “Foolishness to the Greeks,” the souls of individuals have been spiritually ravaged as a result of our complete surrender of the key institutions and spheres within our society. Newbigin wrote this a generation ago in reference to the inexplicable surrender of modern science and advanced analytical philosophy to secular humanists. His argument is actually simple - in a short-term effort to prioritize souls over spheres and people over institutions, we actually lost both. My belief is that where Newbigin was astutely right decades ago, today's sphere of surrender from the covenant community of God has actually taken place in the marketplace of our day.

I do not just mean the marketplace of ideas, for one could argue that we began surrendering elite academic superiority over a century ago. I do not mean merely the creative marketplace either, where certainly the fields of the fine arts, visual arts, music, and, in particular, film and cinema, have long ago been monopolized by those hostile to a worldview of faith and values. No, I actually mean the very specific marketplace of commerce - the sphere of society in which business is conducted. And I would like to make the case that the damage being done as a result of lacking elite Christian people in the business marketplace is catastrophic, even if you hold to the limited notion that only souls are important in the mind and heart of God. But God is not only in the redemption business. As my friend, Howard Ahmanson, is fond of saying, "God is in the universe business." The theological, philosophical, ideological, and practical reasons all conspire to create a modern church context in which we resist entering the world of business. This is ripping Christian people out of the public square and it only further solidifies our place at the bottom of the totem pole in contemporary affairs.

Newt Gingrich recently shared, at an event that I attended with him in Washington, D. C., that secular Leftists have held the elite positions in society for so long, (referring to higher education, Wall Street, Hollywood, and much of the fine arts community,) that those representing Christian values have become a complete after-thought. I wanted to cower in pessimism and desperation upon hearing this, but then I read the Scripture and I knew there was still hope. I want to suggest to you that perhaps one of the most easily re-obtainable cultural spheres that those in the Christian community may re-assert dominion and influence within will be the business marketplace. There are intimidating obstacles to overcome, for sure, but the opportunity is there. Let me very briefly elaborate.

Historians refer to William Tecumseh Sherman, of American Civil War fame, as the man who said, "War is Hell." He then went on to prove it. The Christian community has been taught for generations that work is a curse, and then they seem to go on to prove that it is so! The Genesis 3 passage which lays out the curses which come upon God's fallen creation may even add some prima facie support for such a notion. But there is a problem with this kind of exegesis. I would propose to you that if Genesis 3 says work is a curse to men, then it also says that children are a curse to women. And because the Bible calls children a blessing from the Lord, not once but countless times, we ought not to adopt such an absurd interpretation of this important chapter of the Holy Scripture. Indeed, the pains of childbirth are a curse, just as the thorns, fields, and ground are to men, but the work itself is no more a curse in this foundational passage than children themselves are a curse. We can learn a lot from Genesis 3 if we pay careful attention. Numerous covenant passages document God's redemptive interaction and purposes with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then all the way through Moses to David. Of course this ultimately leads us to his son Jesus Christ. And what we do see in the Bible is that post-fall life is the life of a covenant community and that community exists in a marketplace and that marketplace provides a forum for our personal dreams and passions. Let me put this very simply.

We must overcome the fallacy that says work itself is a curse and we must further overcome the disastrous thinking that has said, "work is secular."

Ken Gentry's, “The Greatness of the Great Commission” and Abraham Kuyper's work, “The Total World and Life System of Christianity,” are both key reads in this very regard. There is no shortage of material available laying out the crystal clear case that a "sacred-secular" distinction must be obliterated if we are to be faithful to Scripture itself. We are not separatists, or at least we ought not to be separatists. Our Scriptures tell us to have dominion over the creation and to make disciples of all the nations. Our theology tells us that He desires our total effort in all aspects of creation. The workplace is the optimal forum in which to serve our fellow man. In this setting we can be an example of the virtue of Christ, to run the race that Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians. Here we can run to win and to carry on the affairs of a post-fall society with meaning, dignity and excellence.

A society that features Christian people in elite executive positions throughout society will inevitably be one that features Christian influence and dominion from the top-down. A business marketplace that features Christian people in the majority of middle management positions will certainly be one that highlights the virtues that we hold dear. Matthew 5 refers to this as letting our light shine before men. You see, society at large will mostly not see the various private acts of piety that we commit in our personal lives. But what more public declaration of our commitment to excellence is there than that which is held out for an office full of people, or a warehouse full of people, or a community of people to see - namely our successes in the business marketplace? The Christian community has been deceivingly told that business successes are not to be aspired toward, despite nearly an entire book of Proverbs which says otherwise. We are asked to prioritize family over work, or our church over our work, when the text of Scripture continually pleas for a balanced life, one that does not pit these things against each other. There is guilt manipulation from society (and particularly from Christians in a society) whenever anyone works late to succeed in a project or sacrifices a family obligation to meet a business one. We throw the term "workaholic" around like it is a disease that one can catch in the high winds. But I ask you, if the goal of a Christian life is balance - as Bridges, Grant, Mouw and Edwards have all written (“The Micah Mandate” by George Grant is highly recommended here) - when was the last time you heard a Christian chastised for sacrificing time in the office to be at a soccer game? Of course, I am not advocating the prioritization of the former over the latter, but I am suggesting that we have become obsessively guilty of the opposite. Balance is not the theme that the modern church teaches; rather there is a clear pecking order that is taught. This order puts the cultural, financial and meaningful aspirations in the marketplace at the bottom of the barrel. This ought not to be so.

The function of work and the marketplace is not to replace Eden. We must be diligent to remember this. But the function of work in the world is to create a life of meaning, beauty, dignity, and fulfillment along the way. The road from Eden to heaven has been, and will continue to be, a tumultuous one. It ought not to be an ignored one.

My simple objective is not to clear up all ambiguities on this subject, or to answer all your questions, but rather to drive you who work in the marketplace to embark on your own journey to address and answer these issues. You must begin now if you would heed the clear teaching of Scripture. And you must do it for the glory of God as your goal.

--David L. Bahnsen is a financial consultant for UBS and lives in Newport Beach, California. He also directs Marketplace Ministries in Orange County, California, and hosted the third annual banquet for this ministry a few weeks ago. This article was his opening address to that event. He is a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach and a deacon.