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Christ in the Marketplace
By Bo Bartholomew
May 4, 2006
Prayer Breakfast Message
Nashville, TN
Eugene Peterson elaborates on how God meets us in our daily work when he says, “Work doesn’t take us away from God; it continues the work of God through us…Jesus embraces the creation as His workplace…Creation is our workplace.”
So what I want you to understand this morning, is that what we do matters to God. What we do in the marketplace matters to God. What we put our hands to everyday are activities that, in and of themselves, have significance to God. While what we do matters to God I also want you to know that what we love matters to God and these two points lie in tension with each other, but not opposition. This tension is further illustrated in the rest of the passage.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus turns his focus on Peter, the one who was ready to go back to work and was dressed for work. He asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter responded, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” And then He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” And again Peter said, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He then said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” At this point Peter was grieved and hurt. Peter implored, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” And Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
I believe when Jesus asked “Do you love me more than these,” that he was possibly referring to the fish. The fish were, after all, Peter’s catch…Peter’s work creation. There is a danger that we can fall in love with our own creations. Have you ever had your spouse ask you whether you love him or her? If my wife asked me if I loved her, my natural response would be “Of course, Honey.” But if she asked me three times in a row, it would seize my attention and I would wonder what is going on. This is where Jesus takes Peter and then says, “Follow Me.” To follow Christ in the marketplace we have to love Him and keep our hearts pure before Him.
Remember point number two? What we love matters to God. Peter and the disciples had just finished celebrating the increased sales and revenue with Jesus. Jesus celebrated what they were doing in their work because it mattered to him. But Jesus then quickly turns to Peter’s heart. He tells how Peter will grow old and die and then says, “Follow me.” At just that moment, Peter turned and saw the disciple “whom Jesus loved” following them. When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” And Jesus said, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”
Comparison is often what the marketplace seems built on. Stock prices are nothing more than glorified comparisons. When you go to work each day, where do your thoughts turn first? I was reading Forbes magazine the other day about what the highest paid CEO’s make. My thoughts immediately jumped to, “What about me? When will I be that successful?” If your thoughts turn as mine do, then Jesus’ response of “What is that to you?” will hit home. Ironically, the highest paid CEO in the nation right now shared with me that he views business as an adult sport. He said, “We roll the dice everyday trying to land a house on Park Avenue. If we fail to get it one day, we pack up the board and open it again the next day to play again.” As we follow Jesus, the ups and downs of the market cannot sway us for we stand on solid ground. What freedom!
If God has called each of us to uniquely serve Him in the marketplace and if all that we do matters to Him, then His call to follow Him should ring loud in our ears. This is why what we love matters so much to God. Mother Teresa said, “To work without love is slavery.” We cannot love our work, our creation, our compared worth and be free. It is our love for the person of Jesus Christ that sets us free. Let me say also, it is not that we are to give up those great successes and great wealth in the marketplace, but that we have to keep them in their place as we minister in the marketplace through and in the work we do. We must take time in our daily lives to rest and enjoy and love our God. Peterson again helps elaborate this point, He says that when we do not renew our love for Jesus, “our work becomes the entire context in which we define our lives. We lose God-consciousness, God-awareness, sightings of the resurrection. We lose capacity to sing “This is my Father’s world” and end up chirping little self-centered ditties about what we are doing and feeling.”
I love what Oswald Chambers said as well, “The root of faith is knowledge of a person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.”
We are not promised great worldly success. We are not promised wealth, although most of us in this room have it. What we are promised is a relationship. Someone worth following. I would disagree with Henry David Thoreau when he said, “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” And say that true success comes to those who are not in love with it. Far too long the world around us has defined success. God cares more about our character than the temporary successes of this world. “The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.” Eleanor Roosevelt said it well when she said, “Only a man’s character is the real criterion of worth.” Our character is defined first by what we love in the midst of a world with so many things to love. What we love matters to God.
As I close I want to leave us with a word of caution. The two points I am making what you do matters to God and what you love matters to God are in tension with one another. If I embrace the fact that what I do matters and that alone, I can quickly become a workaholic or economic addict. And If I embrace loving Christ with a pure heart alone, then I can justify mediocrity in the name of Christianity. I know many CEO’s who won’t hire Christians because they justify doing bible studies while their boss is paying for their time. This mediocrity was sadly the message of ChristinaJobs.com to the marketplace. And for too long this mediocrity has been the message of the church because we have had ministry upside down.
Jesus the Christ, said “Follow me.” When we follow Him we are free to excel in the marketplace, not hide from it. Followers of Christ should be those leading this world with excellence, but too often we take a back seat. I have been reading, Joy At Work about the story of AES, the largest energy company in the world. The CEO’s faith led his actions toward excellence, not to his preaching to his employees. When their stock fell at times, he immediately went to his investors and shareholders speaking on the right thing to do and why.
I am also reading about the beginnings of Starbucks. Howard Shultz did not set out to create an empire, although most of us would probably agree that he did. He set out to build community and to take care of his employees. This is biblical stewardship in action, whether he knew it or not. I do not want to suggest that work in the marketplace is always about these homeruns successes. God works through the ordinary daily occurrences of our life. Scott Peck says it this way, “We have been looking for the burning bush, the parting of the sea, the bellowing voice from heaven. Instead we should be looking at the ordinary day-to-day events in our lives for evidence of the miraculous.” A friend of mine, speaking of his family, said, “Only now can I look back and see God’s miracles taking place at the dinner table, for in the moment I was lost in teenage issues and poor manners.”
Our calling today, on this the National Day of Prayer, is to serve Jesus Christ the Risen Savior with excellence in the marketplace by embracing two truths that stand in tension with one another.
What we do everyday matters . Let us do it with excellence.
What we love everyday matters . Let us keep our hearts pure.
We are not called to love our ministry, our church, our nation, or even our religion. We are called to love and follow Jesus the Christ. We do this in the marketplace by keeping these two points in tension and balance. Value and cherish your occupation for God celebrated His creation. And guard your heart, falling in love everyday, more and more with the person of Jesus Christ.
Let me close in prayer.
Father God, capture our hearts with a full appreciation of the ministry you call us to in what we work at each day. May we realize how much what we do, in and of itself, matters to You and may we do it with excellence. May you also grip our hearts with a conviction of what we love. Teach us to wake up each morning with our first thoughts being of You. May we follow you this and every day. In the name of Jesus the Christ I pray, Amen.
A native son of Nashville, TN, Bo Bartholomew is married to Sarah, and the father of Samuel, Lilly, and twins on the way. He is a graduate of Davidson College, Regent College, and Vanderbilt University's Owens School of Management. After spending four years with HCA, he is now launching a new business, PharmMD Solutions.
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