Work and Ethics
(The following is the text of the video, “Work and Ethics” found HERE.)
Today’s corporate world is lost in work’s ethical wilderness. So say Norman Geisler and Randy Douglass in their book, Integrity at Work.
This “ethical wilderness” in the work world frightens many Christians. Some even run from it. They fear that the ungodly pressures, value systems, and temptations will corrupt them morally. Yet Jesus sends us into the world—including the work world with all its ethical and moral pits and traps. Why? Because the darkness of that wilderness desperately needs the light that shines out from members of his body. We are, Jesus said, the “light of the world.”
But how can you live and work uprightly in that unethical wilderness without being bent by its pressures to conform? The work-world will constantly hammer you to fall into line with its values and priorities.
Recognizing the need to fence in human behavior, companies and professions create ethical codes. For example,
Avoid harm
Be honest and trustworthy
Comply with laws
Don’t discriminate
Honor confidentiality
Practice fairness
But human nature, infected as it is with sin, keeps on punching holes in such fences. While giving lip service to the codes of conduct, those in the workplace wilderness can’t measure up. Human history has shown this to be true again and again, missing the mark time after time.
So ancient history and current experience both make it clear: code-keeping loses; sin wins. In spite of our best intentions, we cannot live up to lists of written standards. Our ethical and moral failures spring from inside us. “Each of us has turned to our own way.” And our “way” takes us to places we never intended to go, places that end up hurting ourselves and others.
Long ago, God’s people in the wilderness proved they could not keep his codes and laws. So, God promised to rescue them: “I am doing a new thing! . . . . I am making a way in the wilderness.” Through Isaiah the prophet, he promised to make a WAY through the wilderness—a path far different from their own way.
Seven centuries later, when Jesus came, he said: “I am the way.” Jesus is the Way both to right relationship with God the Father and also the Way through the ethical wilderness of the work world. So the question comes down to this: How can you exit your “own way” and get onto his Way. Where is the off-ramp from your way to the Jesus Way? The good news? God himself has built that exit.
Jesus paved that off-ramp when he died on the cross for our sins. “Since we believe that CHRIST DIED FOR ALL, we also believe that WE HAVE ALL DIED to our old life. Jesus not only took our sins to the cross. He also took us to the cross. In God’s eyes, we died with him. We grasp that unseen reality by faith.
This means that “sin shall no longer be your master, because you are no longer under the law, but under grace.” Your co-death with Christ lets you exit the old life and its impossible code-keeping struggle. But God does not leave you dead. “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ.” And that new life makes you able to walk in the Way, which the Bible describes as the way of truth…life…righteousness… peace…and love.
But how can you walk in the way there in the ethical wilderness of your workplace? God has provided many helps along the way. Some of them are:
The presence of the Holy Spirit. Because he lives in your body, when you go to work, the Holy Spirit goes with you. He is your compass and counselor.
The Bible. With its stories of real people who have walked the way before you and with its teachings of truth, Scripture provides promises, caution signs, stop and go signs, yield signs, and so much more.
The Mind of Christ. As Paul put it, “We have the mind of Christ.” With that mind, you can see your work in the Kingdom-of-God perspective.
Fellow Believers. By searching out other Christians in your work circle, you and they can encourage and advise each other along the way.
New Heart. One of God’s New Covenant promises is that he will give us a new heart and a new spirit. As a result, you can treasure the values of God’s Kingdom rather than those of the world.
Ethical guidelines from your employer can be useful as you walk the way in your workplace. Such documents clarify expectations of what others in your field consider right and fair. As Paul urges, “Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.” That is part of walking in the Way.
Yes, today’s workplace is still an ethical wilderness. Many are struggling to find their way through it. But as a Christian, you can count on Jesus the Way. As the song says: “God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see. He will make a way for me.”
From Chapter 16:
“A common complaint I hear from Christian executives is that their employees don’t get into their work, so busy and motivated are they with church activities and Bible studies.” Dave Hataj, GOOD WORK.
