Piketty (20) Unrighteous Business

If a person works hard, and saves some of their earnings, their savings are righteous wealth. If they use their saving to buy assets that make them and other people productive, those assets are righteous wealth.

If a person starts a business that supplies goods and services that people need at a market price, without coercion, deception or manipulation, the retained earnings of the business are righteous wealth.

If the business relies on:

• limited liability laws,
• monopoly rights,
• government privilege,
• debt and inflation,
• exploitation of workers,
• cheating,
• coercion,
• theft,

it becomes unrighteous wealth.

Unfortunately, much modern wealth is unrighteous wealth. Christians should understand the difference.

Some Christians have inherited unrighteous wealth. It will blight their lives, because inheritance does not change its character.

There are only two ways to transform unrighteous wealth.

One is to give it away (preferably from those from whom it was taken, but that is not always possible.

The second is judgment (which is compulsory giving).

Empire to Kingdom of God (14)

As the apostles fulfil their mission, the Kingdom of God grows.

New centres of justice are developed. Schools are started. Social welfare increases the acceptance of the gospel.

Once the apostles have been sent out, some of the people in the original church start a business (B). They provide employment for some of the people from the churches they are linked to be the apostles. They also provide work for non-Christians who living in the same area.

Church Governance (22)

The giftings described in Ephesians 4 are observable in the business world. A business will often be started by one person with boldness and zeal, but to keep going long term it needs four different types of leadership. The business founder (apostle) will be keen to more on to breaking into new markets and launching new products. “Don’t worry about the details we will sort that out later”. They need an accountant/legal type (prophet) to sort out the details and keep them from crossing boundaries. To grow rapidly, they will need someone to do the marketing/sales (evangelist). They also need someone to do the HR/people management stuff that the business founder cannot be bothered about.

The problem in the business world is that the Christian concept of loving one another is not natural. Accordingly, one of the giftings will tend to dominate the others. Unbalanced leadership is a common cause of business failure.

Some workplaces have used the DISC profile for personal development stuff. It puts people into four categories. There are other versions using dog breeds, etc, that are similar. I have always been intrigued by they way these categories parallel the ascension gifts.

• Dominance/lion/apostle - loves making decisions and wants to get things done.
• Influence/otter/evangelist - makes lots of noise and loves working with other.
• Steadiness/Labrador/pastor - works with people and keeps the ship steady.
• Conscientious/beaver/prophet - wants stuff to be right. They get the details sorted out.

These are categories illustrate diversity of giftings and show how a leadership team needs to be well balanced.

I have also observed that some secular organisations are better than Churches at harnessing the creative energies that emerge when these very different personalities work together in a team. They have made very effective use of the ascension giftings. Churches tend to put one person in charge, and everyone has to dance to his tune. Real growth comes when very different leaders can work together, because they have committed to love each other.

These gifts can often be seen amongst children. Some children watch over other children naturally. Some are gifted to be apostolic. They love going out to new things. Some children are passionate about fairness. Others really enjoy meeting new children.

Halal Food (6) Business

Christians cannot be harmed by eating halal food, unless their conscience is weak and it leads into other sin.

Businesses should be careful about getting their food halal certified. When going through this certification process, they have to submit to Moslem authorities. When people submit to any human authority, they give them open themselves up to the spiritual forces, behind that authority. Therefore, businesses getting their products halal certified, are opening themselves up to the spiritual forces behind Islam.

If the managers of the business are Christians, they might have sufficient protection in place to keep themselves safe from any spiritual attack, but they would need to be very careful. If they have any spiritual vulnerabilities in those areas, they could come under serious attack, and it could harm the business.

The Christian manager would also need to think carefully about why the are obtaining Halal certification. If they were doing it to provide food to people who need it, that would be okay. However, if they were getting certification just go get more sales, this might be an unwise compromise.

Authority (10) - Business

Business is one of the few legitimate forms of authority on earth. A business does not need delegated authority from God because it receives authority from below. This authority comes when shareholders entrust their money to the business by buying shares, or by giving it control over money loaned to it. Employees give the business authority over their lives while they are at work by accepting employment.

This authority is voluntary because no one is forced to work for a business. No one is forced to buy its shares or loan money to any business. The authority of a business quite limited. It can control employees while they are at work, but has no authority over the rest of their lives. The share prospectus and loan agreements also place limits on the actions a business can take.

Business authority is temporary, because investors can sell their shares in the business, if they stop trusting it. Lenders can terminate their loans, when they fall due. Employees can resign from their employment, if they give the specified period of notice. The temporary authority over wealth and life that has been submitted to the business can be withdrawn at any time. If the business is liquidated, the authority that it exercised evaporates.

Business is a good place to exercise authority. Even in a hostile culture, the owners of an effective business will have significant authority. After learning to exercise authority in their family, Christians should go on to exercise authority in the business world. Business is a good place to learn about authority and how to exercise it.

God gave mankind two tasks.

• Multiply and fill the earth.
• Subdue and care for the earth.

The first task can be done by families; with help from the church, where people need converting. However families and the church can’t complete the task of managing the earth on their own. Families will need to pool some of their authority in businesses to handle some parts of this task. Significant aspects of managing the earth will be done by businesses.