Be Biblical in Business – A Framework

In the world, we see flawed examples of businesses that we should NOT imitate:

• businesses that are 1) greedy and predatory, 2) willing to cheat, lie, and steal, and/or 3) actively hostile to God and His Word. 

Before we ask pioneers to use business, we need to reclaim a biblical approach to business that looks very different than the world’s examples.

The following is a framework and a vocabulary for being biblical in business, focusing on the goals of 1) valuing work in business, 2) doing good deeds with business, and 3) sharing the Good News through business.

1. Value work in business.

• Model biblical work values.

• Reward those who are trustworthy.

• Pay fair wages.

2. Do good deeds with business.

• Start with biblical priorities for your business.
  • 7 priorities for a biblical business (see below).

• Apply biblical values in your business culture.
  • 12 biblical values that can explicitly mention God or implicitly hint at your faith, so that you both reveal your faith and institute a business culture that’s consistent with biblical values.
    

• Pursue biblical profitability to be a blessing.
  • Biblical expectation that we should use the resources God has given us to be profitable.
    

• Choose biblical generosity with your business and profits.
  • 9 ways to be generous in business that are consistent with biblical teachings.

3. Share the Good News through business.

• Be spiritually visible at work… so others will realize you believe in God.
  • 7 guidelines for being spiritually visible in hostile contexts without giving offense.
  • Simple examples of inoffensive vocabulary that can make it easy to mention God in a variety of contexts.

• Be spiritually interesting at work… to get invitations into homes.
  • 1 Peter 3:15-16 and Colossians 4:5-6 instruct us to be ready to give an answer when we’re asked.
  • Our goal, then, should be to create opportunities for people to ask us the questions that will lead to deeper spiritual conversations.
  • 8 ways to get invited into homes as spiritually interesting people so others will invite us into deeper spiritual conversations.

• Be spiritually ready… when you’re invited into homes.
  • 5 mindsets that will help accelerate the spread of the Good News through networks of families and friends.

These ideas are covered in depth in several of the Small Simple Profitable courses.

Go to www.SmallSimpleProfitable.com to choose a course and enroll.

7 Priorities for a Biblical Business

Quadruple Bottom Line = Principles. Profits. People. Planet.

PRINCIPLES = Spiritual Priorities.

1. Apply God’s Wisdom.

(Deut 4:5-6; Psalm 111:10, 119:98, 104, 130; 19:7)

2. Share the Good News.

(Col 4:5-6; 1 Peter 3:15-16; Matt 28:18-20)

PROFITS = Financial Priorities.

3. Put God First, Not Money.

(Matt 6:24; Luke 16:10-13; 1 Tim 6:9-10; Eccl 5:10)

4. Be Profitable But Not Greedy.

Be profitable… (Deut 8:18, 28:8, 12; Prov 10:22; 2 Cor 9:10-11)

…but not greedy (Eph 5:3-5; Prov 28:25)

5. Be Generous.

(Mark 4:24-25; Luke 6:38; 2 Cor 9:6-8; Prov 11:24-25, 22:9)

PEOPLE = Social Priorities.

6. Care for People.

(Ps 82:3-4; Zech 7:9-10; Eph 4:32; Matt 25:31-40)

PLANET = Environmental Priorities.

7. Care for Creation.

(Gen 1:26-28, 2:15; Ps 8:3-8, 115:16)

The Biblical Mandate to “Do Good Deeds”

Ephesians 2:8–10 says we were saved in order to do good deeds.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

James 2:14–26 says our faith is dead if we aren’t doing good deeds.

“Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds… As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 says the purpose of God’s Word is to equip God’s people for doing good deeds.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Luke 10:25–37 says doing good deeds to strangers is one aspect of the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God…’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” …he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead…. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds… put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him… took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said… “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Matthew 25:31–40 says doing good deeds is an essential aspect of our salvation.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ … Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Hebrews 13:16 says God is pleased when we do good to others.

And do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.