Kingdom Council

Robert I Holmes

"Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord... for it is Christ you are serving" (Col. 3:23,24).

When we think about Jesus, some stereotypical images come to mind. The smiling Jesus holding a lamb over his shoulder, the gentle Jesus healing a blind man, the powerful Jesus calming the storm... but what about Jesus with a chisel in his calloused hand?

Being the eldest brother in a family of eight siblings, the Lord was heir apparent to the carpentry business started by his father. Though Joseph was present during the Lord's adolescent years, he evidently died shortly before the Lord's public ministry. At no time during the ministry recorded in the gospels is Joseph mentioned, and there are many references to Mary and his brothers. So what happened to the family business?

On the day of his baptism, the Lord came to the river Jordan, not in his purple robes of lordship, nor in his seamless priestly robes. He came in a simple tunic, the dress of a carpenter. He had healed no one, raised no one, preached to no one. His hands calloused from years of hard work, his muscles well defined by carrying timber. The Father in heaven said, "This is my son, in whom I am well pleased". Well pleased with chair making, frame building and crucifix construction. No 'ministry' as we might determine it. No Bible college degree, no affirmation from the crowd, no church growth. God was pleased with the 'secular' service of his Son.

The first disciples - businessmen

The first three apostles were businessmen. James, John and Simon Peter were "all partners" in a fishing business (Luke 5:10).  Though they "forsook their nets and followed him", we find anything but abandonment of business in the days ahead. The Lord's first encounter with this business is to use the boat to preach from (vs. 3) and then he blesses it with an abundant catch (vs. 7).

He tells Peter to keep the boat at the ready (Mark 3:9) and uses it many times to cross the sea (e.g. Matt. 8:23). It was Peter's boat in which the famous storm calming incident took place. When it came time to pay taxes, Christ asked Peter to go fishing (Matt. 17:24-27).  Evidently it was not just a tourist boat... the nets had not been cast away. There had been no 'conversion' of the boat and nets into tools for ministry. Even after his death and resurrection, the boat stands ready for use. Peter returns to the boat for a day's fishing, and once again the Lord blesses his business with a bountiful catch (John 21:6).

A call in the midst of business

My first job was in the hospitality industry. I worked as a doorman, a bell-hop, the guy who parks your car. I moved from this to the early morning shift delivering newspapers, and got stuck in a dead end job nobody wanted. This thankless work went on for eighteen months, and I complained bitterly to the Lord. Tips were no good, the hours were making me tired, and it was back breaking work.

Then one morning, before the sun had risen, He spoke clearly to my heart. "Rob, unless you can do this job with joy, and serve with gratefulness, I will not move you on. Until you can do this with all your heart, as though it were me you served, then it is worthless". He was indirectly quoting Colossians 3:23. So I began to revolutionize my attitude, and viewed the job as working for the Lord.  Within a few short months I was transferred.

These last few months, after years of full time 'ministry' the Lord has called me back to tent making. Not full time mind you, nor even to raise finances or increase my tithing. The Lord has opened up such a revelation to me of how He loves and blesses our 'Monday to Friday' church. I have now returned to business training and consulting with a 'secular' company, and the opportunities are amazing.

Christ's statements on business

To balance our perspective on business, the Lord made a number of insightful remarks.

• Business can make you too busy for the kingdom (Matt. 22:1-10)
• When Jesus calls, you are to follow, whether taking it with you, or leaving it behind (Luke 14:12-24)

• Repentance touches every part of your life, including your business. It caused
• Zacchaeus to repay all his fraudulent tax collections (Luke 19:1-10)
• We are judged by our use of unrighteous mammon, and our handling of that determines our trustworthiness with spiritual authority (Luke 16:1-3)
• Mammon is 'the least' thing, and true wealth is in heaven. We must be sure as we serve in the world, that we are not serving the world (Matt. 6:24)
• Pay your taxes honestly. Render to the government what belongs to them, and render to God what belongs to him (Matt. 22:15-21)
• Take what resources you have been given, and maximize your return from them.
• Don't bury your talents (Matt. 25:14-30)
• "Do business till I come" (Luke 19:13)

Negative encounters with Business

The Lord was not ashamed to run His 'business' for 30 years and do 'ministry' for 3, to Him it was all service rendered unto his Father. He laid his family enterprise down to minister, and yet seemingly did not ask that of his disciples. Though he asked them to follow him, he continued to use their business. He blessed them upon the call, and blessed them after his resurrection. However not all business faired this well with Christ.

A certain young man came to the Lord asking what he must do to get to heaven.  Having fulfilled the law and its obligations, he still felt empty. Scripture does not tell us how he came to be wealthy, or a ruler, but along the way he had evidently collected a vast array of 'stuff'. The Lord simply and directly told him to sell it all and give the proceeds to the poor. He endorsed Peters' business, but dismantled this young man's business... why the difference? The young mans' response makes it clear who his Lord was. He did not yield his business into the hands of the Lord, it had become his Lord (Luke 18:18-30).

Lastly, the temple court encounter. Imagine a giant market square: A rectangle, 650 meters long and 400 meters wide (that's almost seven city blocks). In the center of this, imagine a small rectangular building 250 meters wide and 70 meters long. This little building in the middle is the temple containing: the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place and the court of the priests, where slaughtering was done. The Levitical assembly area led into the court of women just before you left the building to go out into the court of the Gentiles.

That court was everything else. Down one long side ran Solomon's Porch, and at the front the royal porch. The Court of the Gentiles was at least 242,500 square meters of open space. That's five and a half football fields. Into this court comes Jesus to confront the business people who were there to service the "sacrifice market". They made money from selling unblemished doves, sheep and cattle to wayfarers; wood and unleavened bread; leaven and wine; herbs and lamb; spices, anointing oil and prayer shawls. There were also money changers, who profited from exchanging 'worldly currency' for temple coins used in the offerings.

Acres and acres of booths "under one roof", a veritable "world expo" at the Court of the Gentiles. Scripture says He "would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts" (Mark 11:16). He "made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables" What authority! To those who sold doves he said, "Take these things away! Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise!" (John 2:15,16 NKJV).

That's fair warning to those of us who would turn the temple of the Lord (now living stones, not temple courts) into a house of merchandise... who would 'use' His bride in the feathering of our nest, and abuse his Church in the making of our business.

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