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Jesus is talking about the blessing of being persecuted for doing right.
But why would we be persecuted for righteousness? The reality in a fallen world is that if we demonstrate genuine righteousness, many will reject us. Righteous people in the workplace may be subjected to active, even severe persecution by people who benefit—or believe they benefit—from injustice there. For example, if you speak up for—or merely befriend—people who are victims of gossip or discrimination in your workplace, expect persecution.
The blessing is that active persecution for the right reasons indicates that the powers of darkness believe you are succeeding in furthering God's kingdom. Even the best organizations and most admirable people are still tainted by the Fall. None are perfect. The eighth beatitude serves as a reminder to us that working in a fallen world requires courage. Following the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers that people who receive these blessings matter :. You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
If you are a follower of Jesus living the beatitudes, you matter. You have an important role to play because you are the salt of the earth. Salt preserves and Christians help preserve what is good in the culture. In the ancient world, salt was very valuable: the Greeks thought it contained something almost divine, and the Romans sometimes paid their soldiers with salt. In a sense, you can bring the distinctive flavor of God's values to all of life. You can make life palatable. Findlay debated with himself for some time, and then made a conscious decision to leave a Bible on his desk at work.
Since becoming a believer he wanted to let others know about his newfound faith, and had concluded this small step could open some doors. To continue reading, click here. You can return to this page afterwards. Note that salt, to be effective, must be in contact with the meat or fish it is to preserve. To be effective, we must be involved where we work and where we live. The majority of the time, living according to the beatitudes may make us more successful in work. What will we do if showing mercy, making peace, or working for justice jeopardizes our position at work?
Withdrawing from the world is no answer for Christians. But it is difficult to live in the world, ready to challenge its ways at any time. In Matthew , Jesus acknowledged the reality of persecution. At work, we touch many people who do not encounter Christ in church. It may be our most effective place to witness to Christ.
But we have to be careful about how we witness for Christ at work. We are being paid to do our work, and it would be dishonest to stint our employers by using work time for evangelism. Moreover, it would be dishonorable to create divisions at work or a hostile environment for nonbelievers.
We must avoid any possible taint of seeking self-promotion by proselytizing. With all these dangers, how can we be salt and light at work? In humility and submission to God, we work for right relations, for merciful actions, and for peace. When we live as people of blessing, we are salt and light—in the workplace, in our homes, and in our nation. Jesus makes a startling statement in Matthew Jesus shocks them by stating that entrance into God's kingdom was available only to those whose righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees.
Who, then, could be saved? The problem lay in equating righteousness with external piety, a common understanding of the word both then and now. This includes those in the workplace. This becomes plain in the illustrations that follow. In Matthew , it is not enough not to murder someone; we must guard against harboring anger that leads to insults and broken relationships. We may feel anger, but the right way to handle anger is try to resolve conflict Matt.
Jesus is clear that a right relationship between you and your brother or sister is so vital that you should forego religious practices until you have cleared the matter between the two of you.
In the workplace, anger may be used to manipulate others. Or anger may overwhelm you because you feel unfairly treated. Deal with the issue: take the first step toward reconciliation, even though it may put you in a position of humility. Engaging in fair, open conflict resolution is the way of the new kingdom.
Again, blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus speaks about wealth frequently. A central tenet of economics is that the purpose of work is to increase wealth, making this a work-related topic. Although God has given humanity everything we need to produce enough food to feed everyone on earth, we have not ended hunger. Not only are we to ask God for our daily provision, but we also are warned against stockpiling material wealth and other treasures on earth:.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The implication is that we would do better to invest our money in activities that transform the world, than in securities that protect our accumulated surplus.
Is it wrong, then, to have a retirement portfolio or even to care about the material things of this world for ourselves or for others? The answer is again both no and yes. The no comes from the fact that this passage is not the only one in the Bible speaking to questions of wealth and provision for those who are dependent on us. In light of the rest of Scripture, Matthew cannot be a blanket prohibition. Money changes the heart more than the heart decides how to handle money. Those who invest their deepest treasure in the things of this world will find they are no longer serving God but money Matt.
That can lead to anxiety coming from the uncertainties of money Matt.
giuliettasprint.konfer.eu: The Erosion of Biblical Certainty: Battles over Authority and Interpretation in America (): Michael J. Lee: Books. According to conventional wisdom, by the late s, the image of Bible as a supernatural and infallible Battles over Authority and Interpretation in America.
Will it be eroded by inflation? Will the stock market crash? Will the bonds default?
Will the bank fail? The question, then, is what kind of attention you should pay to material needs and the accumulation of resources.
If you let them displace your trust in God , you are becoming unfaithful. If you pay excessive attention to them, you will become greedy. How are we to discern the line between appropriate and inappropriate attention to wealth? First things first.
Despite our large capacity for self-deception, this question can help us observe carefully where our treasure has put us. That will tell us something about our hearts. Jesus calls us to realism about ourselves that will keep us from picking at or judging someone else:.
Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. This may seem to pose a problem in the workplace. Bosses must assess their subordinates, and in some organizations, vice versa. We must often decide whom to trust, whom to choose as partners, whom to employ, which organization to join. The problem is that we are constantly making judgments unaware. The mental pictures we make of others in our workplaces are composed more of our biased perceptions than from reality.
Partly, this is because we see in others whatever serves to make us feel better about ourselves. Partly, it is to justify our own actions when we do not act as servants to others. Partly, it is because we lack the time or inclination to collect true information, which is much harder to do than storing up random impressions.