Business For The Glory Of God

In the seventh chapter of Why Business Matters to God, Van Duzer asks readers to answer some questions to see if they have an understanding so far on how they then should do business? Some of the questions included on what the proper purpose of business and what are some of the convenient limit to the practices of business. Some of the major points are the answers to the three questions that were introduced about the summary of business framework. The first main point within the novel is the purpose to serve. The author states that to understand why business matters to God, you have to understand the role that God plays in wanting to profit companies within our world.

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

Wayne Grudem wrote the book ‘Business for the Glory of God,’ this book is based on biblical teachings. The book discusses issues such as ownership, productivity, employment, commercial transactions, profit, money, inequality of possessions, competition, borrowing and lending, attitudes of heart and effect on world poverty from a biblical standpoint, each are “fundamentally good and provides many opportunities for glorifying God but also many temptations to sin.” (Grudem, 2003, p. 19) Grudem claims that business can glorify God. He states “I am going to argue that many aspects of business activity are

* Human resource management= the management function focused on maximizing the effectiveness of the workforce by recruiting world-class talent, promoting career development and determining workforce strategies to boost organizational effectiveness

A successful Christian business man may sound like an oxymoron, but that was R.G LeTourneau. He built big, powerful machinery that could do things that no other machine could do before, but he also believes that a Christian business man owes as much to God as a preacher does (LeTourneau, 1967). Mr. LeTourneau states, “God needs businessmen as partners as well as preachers” (1967). Imagine a man becoming a very successful Christian business man, the founder of LeTourneau University, and a leader of many missionary works. The proceeding essay will discuss the man, his faith, and my personal reflection of R.G. LeTourneau.

This is an inevitable truth in the sinful world that surrounds every Christian, whether it be their personal walk with the Lord or a business pursued in the name of the Lord. Prior knowledge of this truth, such as laws that will enable continuous business operations despite obstacles, is crucial in establishing a long-lasting business.

According to Duzer (2012), In pursuit of God’s purpose, people need to understand the ethical limitations embedded naturally in design of the God’s creation. It is not enough too simply align our businesses purposes with God earthly design, without limitation we still fall short of Gods expectations. God’s creation purpose for business includes businesses that serve the community in a positive way that strides to serve all citizens according to God’s plan. For example, a business might be able to produce more goods and services that would enable the community to flourish. It might create more vocationally rich jobs for its employees by disregarding its duty to provide return to its shareholders (Duzer,

White utilizes the Biblical verses to present his plan on business ethics. The reason for that is because he has a strong desire to convey to the reader’s view that God has already given us the principles that we need to monitor for everything in life including business. He states that it “is God we serve and it is God to whom we are accountable” (White, J., 1978). The logic for his principles is to display to the reader that business and God can be collaborated together. I think many people are unconnected to God throughout every day in life and say that to succeed in business you cannot cohere to moral standards. White is trying to prove that this is not true and that if you want to succeed then you need God. Caux uses foundational concepts to present their principles (Caux Round Table, 2010). This is because they feel that “good ethics” are “good risk management” (Caux Round Table, 2010). As a choice of good ethical practices presenting a few difficulties to succeed at business and completely some of the risk

It can be characterised as a wholesale commodification of religion, that is the selling-off of religious buildings, ideas and claims to authenticity in service to individual/ corporate profit and the promotion of a particular worldview and mode of life, namely corporate capitalism” (15). Carrette and King are making an important observation that religion has become a good that can be sold and traded through the idea that spirituality is a certain way of living. The “Prosperity Gospel” falls into this spirituality trap that Carrette and King address. The “ideas and claims” are seen when prosperity preachers tell their congregations that monetary donations will lead to an increase in personal wealth, and to better health. Meanwhile the “promotion of a particular worldview and mode of life” is apparent when prosperity preachers teach their followers that money and property are essential in God’s plan for them, and it is a sign of their spirituality when they prosper. In addition, the “selling-off of religious buildings” can be found in the numerous mega-churches and multi-million dollar mansions that prosperity preachers inhabit. The wealth of these places sell the idea that fancy buildings are signs of a healthy spiritual lifestyle being lived in God’s favor. Overall,

Another aspect of business activity that Grudem inquires about is profit. When people think of profit the first thing that comes to mind is making money and a famous saying usually follows that train of thought; money is the root to all evil. This saying is derived from the Bible but the scripture is reworded and taken out of context. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “for the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”. Because some people feel that money is the root to all evil, they view making a profit as being evil. Grudem explains that making a profit not only helps others, but also corresponds with God’s teaching to subdue the earth in making use of the earth’s resources. Therefore, profit is an indication that I am making good and efficient use of the earth’s resources, thus obeying God’s original “creation mandate” to “subdue” the earth

Through these nine key concepts, Dr. Grudem illustrates how a variety of business techniques, when implemented in a Godly manner, allow those to pose certain characteristics of God. Grudem isn’t naïve, though. He does, after all, explain that in every aspect of business there are multiple layers of opportunities to give glory to God, as well as multiple temptations to sin (Grudem, 2003, p. 17). He is also aware about the easy ways these activities can be perverted and used as a means to sin ("Business for the," 2003). This book is tailored to echo God’s glory in relation to correlation with employees, co-workers, customers, and other businesses involved in the business unity. Furthermore, it does not only promote a positive impact within the business realm, but also in the personal realm of one’s life in business.

If we aren’t to possess anything this Commandment would make no sense to us; so therefore, God allows us to have possessions. Indeed, owning something is a way to imitate God’s sovereignty over the world. Also, with having personal ownership taking care of those possessions is also a way we can imitate God’s character. This chapter also expresses that ownership is not the same thing as “greed” and as Christians we realize that everything that we have “ownership” of is ultimately God’s and we are just “stewards” that are taking care of what really belongs to God.

One of the first questions that needs to be addressed, is what the goal of a Christian financial manager is in a corporate setting? I believe that the goal of the Christian financial manager is to earn money for the company, while at the same time demonstrating an attitude of service to everyone they come in contact with (Chewning, 1990, p. 15). In the Bible, it tells us that we are supposed to treat other people the way that we would want to be treated, and that includes in the financial work place (Luke 6:31 English Standard Bible). As a Christian financial manager, the goal should be to treat everyone with respect. This is more important than making as much money as possible. However, it is not just about the financial manager, but it is also about the organization as a whole. A Christian financial manager should look at the workplace before they decide to work

The Christian business person is a shepherd ushering in the kingdom of God in a fallen world. The practice of the becoming more like Jesus will grow in results of taking risks, managing finance and time wisely, acquiring new habits and understanding. The Christian business person is redefining success, which is much more than material gain, but in a relationship and whole partnership with Jesus.

Biblical entrepreneurship, as defined by Tsague in Biblical Principles for Starting & Operating a Business, is a Biblically based process of identifying opportunities, taking calculated risks, solving problems, and exercising business stewardship for profit (Tsague, 2006, pg.18). The text gives many principles that are crucial to doing business successfully from God’s perspective. The following twelve principles show how Biblical entrepreneurship relates to a Christian worldview. “God has given each of us talents in