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Transcript 318A
On Being a Christian in the Workplace
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: What do you do when your boss tells you, "It's all right for you to think about Jesus when you're off the job," but he doesn't want you to do a thing about evangelism when you're on the job? I don't feel personally that I can honor the request of the boss because I feel that Christ must come first in my life, regardless of who says what.
HC: That's a good question. I'm glad you raised that, because Christians very frequently think they are doing something God-glorifying when they are actually doing something sinful in this regard. I'll be glad to answer your question.
The question is raised, and. it's a very practical question, how am I to practice the presence of Christ on the job, when the boss says, "You can think about Jesus on your lunch hour, or when you go home, but you forget about Him when you're on the job."
The reason this is a practical question is this. A lot of times we as Christians fail to realize that when we are on the job, when we are working for someone else, our time at that time belongs to our employer. It is God's program that we are to honor the requests of our employer during that time.
Now don't jump to the wrong conclusion. When the employer requests that we're not to think about Christ, it doesn't mean that. That would be disobedient to the Bible. But let's suppose that you're on the job, and your friend, whom you're working with, or the fellow that you're working with, during the working hours says to you, "You know, I'm having a real problem with a sin in my life. Can you help me?" The temptation at that point is to stop your job and witness to him of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that may not be, because your time is being paid for to do the work for your boss.
The proper reply should be, "I would be delighted to. How about eating lunch with me tomorrow? Or how about coming over to my home tonight so that we can really visit over this?" Then on your own time you can really unfold the riches of the grace of God. But on company time, no, no. That's not time to do your witnessing. You're not paid for this. Now if it's your own business and you don't have an employer that you're working for, fine. Then you can do it during company time. But if you're an employee, then do your witnessing during lunch hour and after working hours.
This however doesn't mean that you have to live like the world does while you're working. You can still witness, but you're witnessing without taking time off from the job. What do I mean by that? You see, as a Christian our life ought to be the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's suppose that you're on the job and an incident arises where maybe the boss comes to you and says, "Say, 'so and so' said that you . . ." and he accuses you of some bad workmanship, let's say, for the sake of this discussion. As an unsaved man you probably would lash out in anger. "What do you mean? What's he talking about? I wouldn't have done anything like that." And away you would have gone.
As a Christian you however walk very humbly. As a Christian, when you're reviled you revile not again. And so your reaction to this accusation is going to be altogether different. It is going to be a reaction that will manifest the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to answer very humbly, very mildly, very tenderly. "Perhaps he has misunderstood. Shall we examine the work that I have done and see if there is any truth in it? If I'm wrong, then I don't mind being corrected." And so on.
Or perhaps there is a time on the job when extra labor is required. And because you're a Christian, you're going to be the one that is going to work the hardest. I really believe that in any company those who are the born again believers ought to be the finest employees, the most zealous, the most loyal, the hardest workers of anyone else, because they're working to please God ultimately rather than their employer.
In our reaction to problems on the job, in our reaction to work loads, in our diligence, in all of these things, we're going to be the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're witnessing all the time with our life. But insofar as taking time to stop working for our employer during working hours in order to witness about the Lord Jesus Christ to someone, that can't be. You can't take company time to do that. You should wait until after working hours. Then you won't be stealing from your boss.
Some people operate, and they do this unconsciously, under the theory that the end justifies the means. What verse in the Bible is that? Well, that's not found in the Bible. In other words, if the end is God-glorifying enough, then the means by which it is accomplished don't necessarily have to be God-glorifying. And the case in point here would be, it is a God-glorifying ideal to be realized to witness to someone in their distress of the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ, even though I have to steal company time to do it. The end is so God-glorifying that it justifies the means.
I believe with all my heart that if the means are not God-glorifying, the end won't be God-glorifying, either. If we're really going to achieve and strive for an end that is God-glorifying, then by all means let's make certain that the means we employ to arrive there are also God-glorifying.
While we're working on the job we owe our time to our employer. Therefore, if the opportunity for witnessing arises, whereby we would have to stop work, all we have to do is make sure that we remember we've got lots of hours when we're not working, Most of us don't work more than forty hours or so on the job. There are many hours that are our own.
The interesting thing is that very frequently we are ready to spend time witnessing on the job, but we wouldn't think of spending a whole evening to invite someone over. Oh, many of us would, of course. Of course many would. But we may have a ball game tonight, you know, to go to, or something else that we've really longed to do. We see our fellow employee in great need, and he wants to hear the Gospel right now. So we're willing to take company time, but we're not willing to forego some pleasure that we might have outlined for the evening. And so instead we take the company time.
The rule should be that no, we can't do it on company time. We owe that to the employer. But we have this evening when we have a program lined out for our own pleasure. I can forego that. I control that. I'm willing to lay down my life for my friend, and spend my time with my friend tonight.