Saviour and Carpenter

by Scott Marques

Scott is based at River of Life Church, Harare, and leads the team serving a growing number of churches in Zimbabwe

‘Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James …? Aren’t his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him … He could not do any miracles there …‘ (Mark 6:3–5). For the people with whom Jesus grew up, he was just like anybody else in the community. They had watched him develop and learn a trade, most likely in his father’s workshop. He seems to have excelled in his skill as he was referred to as ‘the’ carpenter. He had probably produced some excellent work and had made a name for himself through his craftsmanship and competitive pricing. Somehow, for them, his trade meant that he could not possibly be spiritual!

The attitude the people showed is based on two common but unbiblical assumptions. First, that Jesus’ income-generating skill determined his identity. In their minds, he could not possibly be or do anything else than be a carpenter! That was his life, that was all there really was to him. Second, their attitude betrayed their assumption that there existed a hierarchy of work. The tone is one of disdain as they said, ‘He’s just a carpenter – Mary’s boy’ (Message). The skill of carpentry was a common one, menial and mundane compared to other more ‘spiritual’ work like teaching and healing. As a result, they were unwilling or unable to see any spiritual potential in Jesus, and their faith was non-existent.

A Biblical view of work is essential if we want to see the power and authority of Jesus in action in our ‘hometown’ or workplace. To this end it is helpful to review God’s overall purpose in creation and then see how the church, the kingdom and day-to-day work fit into this big picture.

1. The ultimate purpose of God in all creation is the demonstration of His glory.

In Genesis 1:26, God created man ‘in the image of God’. His design from the beginning has been to demonstrate His likeness and glory in all He has created and, most of all, in man.

2. The glory of God in all creation is primarily demonstrated in the church.

As a result of original sin, man could no longer reflect the likeness of God. Sin is described as falling short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). However, God has made a way for the redemption of His purpose through Jesus, and a new and even greater demonstration of God’s glory in man. Paul describes this as, ‘His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to all creation according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 3:10–11).

3. As the glory of God is demonstrated in the church, the kingdom of God comes.

Upon Peter’s confession of the Christ in Matthew 16, Jesus makes three emphases in three consecutive verses as he declares his intention to give Peter the ‘keys of the kingdom of heaven’.

i) God, not man, has revealed Christ to Peter. It is to God’s glory! (v17).
ii) On this rock, the church is built and will not be overcome (v18).
iii) The church is to be given the keys of the kingdom of heaven (v19).

The kingdom of God is extended through the influence of the church on the world around it. As people become believers they are changed by the grace of God to exhibit renewed values, attitudes and actions that testify to the existence of God and to His goodness. In this context Jesus said, ‘… let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven’ (Matt. 5:16).
As the kingdom of God is extended, people are turned to Christ and the church grows; as the church grows, the kingdom of God further increases.

A main area of influence for the church on the world is in the workplace

In every field of work, believers have the capacity to make a significant impact on surrounding society. Jesus said, ‘You are the salt of the earth … you are the light of the world,’ and ‘you are in the world but not of the world’ (Matt. 5:13–14).

Tragically, certain occupations have tended to be elevated over others, leading to descriptions of work as ‘higher or lower’, ‘sacred or secular’ and ‘spiritual or menial’. However, the Word of God teaches us that there is no part of our lives that is beneath God’s interest; all our life should be lived by faith in Christ. The issue is, therefore, not the work itself but rather the faith and obedience to God with which the work is done.

Martin Luther hotly argued that if what a believer does grows out of faith and is done for the glory of God, then all sacred/secular distinctions are demolished. He wrote, ‘The works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic labourer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all the works are measured before God by faith alone … Indeed the menial housework of a manservant or maidservant is often more acceptable to God than all the fasting and other works of a monk or priest, because the monk or priest lacks faith.’ Similarly, William Tyndale said in 1522, ‘There is no work better than another to please God. To pour water, to wash dishes, to be a cobbler or an apostle – all is one as touching the deed to please God.’

Personal testimony

My business career started after I completed a degree in commerce at the University of Cape Town. My father insisted that I work for three years in the family business to defray some of his expenses in putting me through school. This spare-parts business was on the verge of collapse because severe internal fraud had been perpetrated.
A number of Biblical values affected my decisions as I started work as general manger. These resulted in the turnaround and multiplication of the business, which is now a leading supplier of tractor parts and ball bearings in my country, amidst many challenges. I list some examples of value-based decisions and approaches that have helped us.

• Pay the worker what he is due

Some staff were being paid large salaries based on their ‘title’ and others, who were really making things happen, were being paid very little for their work, so I initiated a system of paying people based on measured performance. Although it takes a lot of care and effort, I believe that setting clear, measurable targets with declared rewards for attaining and surpassing the targets is one of the most vital aspects of a successful business. Not only will the clearly communicated vision automatically benefit the business but also, when you follow through on your word by paying people accordingly, morale and performance skyrockets.
(The best book I have read on performance-based remuneration systems is Creating Winners in the Workplace by Dr Arnold Mol, pub. Struik Christian Books, South Africa).

• Leadership and team

The Biblical pattern of leadership is serving others. To teach this, I set up leadership development and teamwork programmes. Twice a year I take all the staff (50+, including the tea-lady) on a two or three-day retreat for personal development. Precious little is spoken about specific business issues; we focus primarily on individual leadership development, peer-review and team-building exercises. I remember camping in pouring rain and reading John Maxwell’s book Developing the Leader within You with about 40 people around a campfire in the mountains! It all worked wonders for unity and team-building and we have now expanded to fourteen branches around the country with highly co-ordinated interplay and rapport in spite of distances.

• Account for your talent

A business runs best on carefully tailored systems of measurement and accounting. Responsibility that is delegated should be accounted for, which not only forms the basis of reward for achievement but also consequence for non-achievement. In our case such systems crucially apply to bank reconciliations, debt age control and stock control, and re-order procedures. Our perpetual stock-take, which runs monthly across all the branches, is rarely above 0.03% in variance from theoretical records.

• Tithes and offerings

From the first profitable month of trading until today (some twelve years later) I have used 10% of net-profit-before-tax as a basis for calculating and paying a monthly tithe to my church. As my salary is a tax-deductible expense in the business, my wife (who runs our home finances!) pays a tithe on my gross salary as it comes in. This has been a source of great joy in honouring God. Over and above this starting point for giving, I have had the privilege of contributing with various other large and small sums of money for church plants, church buildings and other apostolic initiatives by giving through local elderships and apostolic teams. I am also enabled to give of my time to responsibilities within the local church and apostolic sphere, as superbly capable teams increasingly manage the business.

These four focus areas of staff remuneration, team dynamics, measurement systems and giving are among the most influential value-based approaches that drive the businesses that I run. I try to use the following questions to help me make ‘kingdom’ decisions in any given scenario:

a) What values and fruit of the Spirit can be shown in this circumstance?

As any believer does his work, he demonstrates and outworks some of the characteristics of God and His kingdom such as love, integrity, kindness, trustworthiness, faithfulness, patience, perseverance and hard work. These are often in stark contrast to expected norms in the workplace and bring the influence of God’s kingdom into every context.

b) Is there the blessing of production and profit in this situation?

The first words that God spoke to man were, ‘Be fruitful…’ (Gen. 1:28). God gave man fruitful work to perform. The fruitful stewardship of all that God has entrusted to us yields great blessing. In contrast, fruitlessness and poverty are results of original sin.
As Christians work, the fruits of their labour are an immediate blessing to;
i)    their families
ii)    customers and clients
iii)    the local economy and, ultimately, a nation.

The most obvious way in which work can benefit the kingdom is through the financial giving of those who have earned capital, resulting in more resources for the church to build itself up and influence the surrounding world.

c) Is my conduct a platform for evangelism, discipleship and church planting?

Evangelism
The workplace reveals the character of people more than many other forums. As the world comes into contact with the saints in the context of work, they should be like ‘salt and light’ drawing them to God.

Discipleship
Actions in the workplace often speak louder than words. Much of Jesus’ teaching to his disciples revealed issues of the heart in the context of day-to-day work.

Church planting
The apostle Paul supplied his own and others’ needs whilst on mission through the ‘hard work’ of his hands (Acts 20:34–35, 2 Cor. 9:12). His trade also helped to establish contacts and a base from which to plant churches (Acts 16:14, 18:1–4).

Conclusion

In his book Workplace: Prison or Place of Destiny, (pub. Gabriel Resourcs), David Oliver gives a vivid analogy. The church is like Sleeping Beauty, a beautiful princess who has been pricked with a ‘heresy-needle’ that has put her to sleep. The heresy poison is the notion that most of the work we do on a day-to-day basis has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. If we inject the antidote, truth of God’s Word, into this error, it will be the kiss of life to the church who will be roused into vigour and effectiveness in the world.

Let us embrace a Biblical attitude to work and release the kingdom potential of the workplace for the glory of God!