Relooking into the marketplace Part One: Identity
I have always been interested in learning more about the marketplace and how, as Christian, we can influence the marketplace. I learn quite a fair bit reading books written by Ed Silvoso, Lee Strobel, Henry Blackaby etc. I learned quite a bit also from a recent seminar in my church conducted by Benjamin Pwee. As I look into the theology of the marketplace, I have decided to consolidate my thoughts and post up this for us to relook into the marketplace and what it means for us.
First thing we need to look at before seeing where we are and what the marketplace means to us is to first define what is the marketplace. Let's us first take a look at a list of name:
Why is this list so significant? Because the people whom Jesus had entrusted the future of His church to are not clergymen but people who are basically lay people. Peter, James, John, Andrew and Philip were fishermen as we know them. Matthew was a tax collector. Judas was probably previously in some 'finance' sector of that time, which explained why he was entrusted with handling the money. What does this mean for us?
Ed Silvoso wrote that a marketplace consists of three components: business, education and government. Neil Johnson defined the marketplace as 'the forum through which human economic commerce is conducted' and this includes the business community, the factories, the schools, the workplace of whatever kind and policy making forums at local, national and international levels that impact the economy and those working within it. Carver Yu defined it as a process in which man may grow to the full statue of his humanity or degenerate into a functional item and a process in which a corporate may develop into a community of covenantal commitment with integrity congenial to the nurture of humanity. Effectively, I will simply define the marketplace as the place where we are creating value.
Early Christians made their marketplace the focal point of their ministry because they spend a lot of their time there. Paul himself was a tentmaker. It is likely that the seven being appointed by the apostles to take care of the admin stuff were also people from the marketplace. Take a look at Acts 2:42-47:
Now, becoming a Christian in that early days does not mean that the people stopped working and just spend their day praising God at the temple court. Surely there has to be some ways that they feed themselves and that has to be work. But you see, the Lord added to their number daily and we have to question why. I highly suspect that it's because of their influence and their lives in the marketplace that the people were witnessing. These early Christians did in fact take good stewardship of their place in their marketplace.
Previously as a student, I was very conscious of my place in the marketplace, which was my classes and lectures. Basically, I realised that my school was my marketplace and I had the responsibility to make sure that I fulfil my role as a student there well. Likewise, as I begin to seek employment, my prayer to God was for a marketplace where God can effectively use me to exercise godly influence. The question posing to us is of course, what are we to do with our respective marketplace?
I hope to review what I have read and heard over the past years, but I think Benjamin Pwee, during the seminar that I attended, said it very nicely. We need to think theologically. That's my favourite. We need to ask theological questions about the marketplace. And I want to start off by asking 'what is our place and identity in Christ?' This question alone will do much in defining who we are and what we do.
As I was thinking about the question of our identity in Christ, a few verses come to my mind.
The context of this verse is that we are His ambassadors to bring the message of reconciliation to the world, that God is reconciling with the sinful world through Christ. This is important for us as Christ followers and I firmly believe it from the first day that I came to know Him, that the message of reconciliation has to be brought to the world by Christians. More on that later.
For us to believe and receive Him, we become the children of God. What does being a child of God mean? Taking it at the most surface and basic level, a child normally takes after the parent. A child will also one day inherit the parent's inheritance. At a physical level, we normally resemble our parents genetically and therefore physically. At a spiritual level, we should resemble our Father in heaven. After all, we are created in His own image.
We are His branches while He is the vine. The key is that if we want to produce fruit in our lives, we need to remain connected to Christ, remain connected to God. Only when we are connected to God that we are able to produce fruits in our lives. And these fruits are in the context of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives that are shown in holy living. Why is this important? More on that later.
Of course the famous salt and light. But yet this is important for us to understand our identity in Christ. We are the salt and light. According to Ps Jo in one of the BLM meetings, he said that we are already salt and light in Christ and we dun need to become salt and light. He said if we are who we are in our marketplace, then we will be who we are supposed to be. And being salt and light means that we dun isolate ourselves from the world if we want to influence and make a difference here.
What is the key point that I want to make here? My point is that wherever we are, we need to understand who we are in Christ. The understanding of our identity has big repercussion on what we do and how we do what we do and how we behave in anywhere we are, be it workplace or school. If we know and understand that we are children of God, shouldn't we be acting more like His children? Our doing will always stem out from our being. Who we are defines how we do life in where we are.
One last thing we need to look at before I close off this first part of my review on marketplace theology. After knowing who we are, we will then need to understand what is our real mission in the world and in the marketplace? I reflect high and low for just something that God says in His word that states out this mission and nothing says it better than this:
Why the Great Commission? I have thought through a lot. Rick Warren, in his book 'Purpose-driven Life', stated five purposes for us on earth - worship, Christ-likeness, fellowship, service and evangelism. Of these five, he singled out evangelism as the only thing we can do while we are on earth. I have grown to understand that it means nothing if we, as Christians, just strive to be diligent in our work and do our best as if that is the end goal for us. The end of everything is to really bring the message of reconciliation to the world, to all nations. We dun simply glorify God's name, but we need to know that the idea of glorifying God's name is to make His name known to the world so that people around us will praise our Father in heaven. Hence, I have reached the conclusion that our real mission in the marketplace is really a ministry of reconciliation above all things else. If we are producing good works in our workplace, that has to become God's testimony in our lives. The end result must be that people come to know the LORD.
Before I end off, I would just want to qualify, which I hope that I can elaborate more later, that by bringing the Kingdom of God into our marketplace, the reconciliation of the world with God has to bring about a fundamental transformation. That's the gist of making disciples and teaching people to obey what Jesus has taught. We will close off at this note and expand on these themes again in another post.
Till then, akan datang.
First thing we need to look at before seeing where we are and what the marketplace means to us is to first define what is the marketplace. Let's us first take a look at a list of name:
These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Why is this list so significant? Because the people whom Jesus had entrusted the future of His church to are not clergymen but people who are basically lay people. Peter, James, John, Andrew and Philip were fishermen as we know them. Matthew was a tax collector. Judas was probably previously in some 'finance' sector of that time, which explained why he was entrusted with handling the money. What does this mean for us?
Ed Silvoso wrote that a marketplace consists of three components: business, education and government. Neil Johnson defined the marketplace as 'the forum through which human economic commerce is conducted' and this includes the business community, the factories, the schools, the workplace of whatever kind and policy making forums at local, national and international levels that impact the economy and those working within it. Carver Yu defined it as a process in which man may grow to the full statue of his humanity or degenerate into a functional item and a process in which a corporate may develop into a community of covenantal commitment with integrity congenial to the nurture of humanity. Effectively, I will simply define the marketplace as the place where we are creating value.
Early Christians made their marketplace the focal point of their ministry because they spend a lot of their time there. Paul himself was a tentmaker. It is likely that the seven being appointed by the apostles to take care of the admin stuff were also people from the marketplace. Take a look at Acts 2:42-47:
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Now, becoming a Christian in that early days does not mean that the people stopped working and just spend their day praising God at the temple court. Surely there has to be some ways that they feed themselves and that has to be work. But you see, the Lord added to their number daily and we have to question why. I highly suspect that it's because of their influence and their lives in the marketplace that the people were witnessing. These early Christians did in fact take good stewardship of their place in their marketplace.
Previously as a student, I was very conscious of my place in the marketplace, which was my classes and lectures. Basically, I realised that my school was my marketplace and I had the responsibility to make sure that I fulfil my role as a student there well. Likewise, as I begin to seek employment, my prayer to God was for a marketplace where God can effectively use me to exercise godly influence. The question posing to us is of course, what are we to do with our respective marketplace?
I hope to review what I have read and heard over the past years, but I think Benjamin Pwee, during the seminar that I attended, said it very nicely. We need to think theologically. That's my favourite. We need to ask theological questions about the marketplace. And I want to start off by asking 'what is our place and identity in Christ?' This question alone will do much in defining who we are and what we do.
As I was thinking about the question of our identity in Christ, a few verses come to my mind.
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. - 2 Corinthians 5:20a
The context of this verse is that we are His ambassadors to bring the message of reconciliation to the world, that God is reconciling with the sinful world through Christ. This is important for us as Christ followers and I firmly believe it from the first day that I came to know Him, that the message of reconciliation has to be brought to the world by Christians. More on that later.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. - John 1:12-13
For us to believe and receive Him, we become the children of God. What does being a child of God mean? Taking it at the most surface and basic level, a child normally takes after the parent. A child will also one day inherit the parent's inheritance. At a physical level, we normally resemble our parents genetically and therefore physically. At a spiritual level, we should resemble our Father in heaven. After all, we are created in His own image.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:5
We are His branches while He is the vine. The key is that if we want to produce fruit in our lives, we need to remain connected to Christ, remain connected to God. Only when we are connected to God that we are able to produce fruits in our lives. And these fruits are in the context of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives that are shown in holy living. Why is this important? More on that later.
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. - Matthew 5:13-15
Of course the famous salt and light. But yet this is important for us to understand our identity in Christ. We are the salt and light. According to Ps Jo in one of the BLM meetings, he said that we are already salt and light in Christ and we dun need to become salt and light. He said if we are who we are in our marketplace, then we will be who we are supposed to be. And being salt and light means that we dun isolate ourselves from the world if we want to influence and make a difference here.
What is the key point that I want to make here? My point is that wherever we are, we need to understand who we are in Christ. The understanding of our identity has big repercussion on what we do and how we do what we do and how we behave in anywhere we are, be it workplace or school. If we know and understand that we are children of God, shouldn't we be acting more like His children? Our doing will always stem out from our being. Who we are defines how we do life in where we are.
One last thing we need to look at before I close off this first part of my review on marketplace theology. After knowing who we are, we will then need to understand what is our real mission in the world and in the marketplace? I reflect high and low for just something that God says in His word that states out this mission and nothing says it better than this:
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20
Why the Great Commission? I have thought through a lot. Rick Warren, in his book 'Purpose-driven Life', stated five purposes for us on earth - worship, Christ-likeness, fellowship, service and evangelism. Of these five, he singled out evangelism as the only thing we can do while we are on earth. I have grown to understand that it means nothing if we, as Christians, just strive to be diligent in our work and do our best as if that is the end goal for us. The end of everything is to really bring the message of reconciliation to the world, to all nations. We dun simply glorify God's name, but we need to know that the idea of glorifying God's name is to make His name known to the world so that people around us will praise our Father in heaven. Hence, I have reached the conclusion that our real mission in the marketplace is really a ministry of reconciliation above all things else. If we are producing good works in our workplace, that has to become God's testimony in our lives. The end result must be that people come to know the LORD.
Before I end off, I would just want to qualify, which I hope that I can elaborate more later, that by bringing the Kingdom of God into our marketplace, the reconciliation of the world with God has to bring about a fundamental transformation. That's the gist of making disciples and teaching people to obey what Jesus has taught. We will close off at this note and expand on these themes again in another post.
Till then, akan datang.
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