Kingdom Commerce (3)

Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with hishands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Ephesians 4.28

Everybody’s happy
The old Broadway musical Tenderloin is set in the Wild West, when lawlessness and pragmatism were the norm, and people had to survive as best they could.

Tenderloin includes a song that captures the essence of economics and commerce in a getting-and-spending economy where the bottom line is what matters most. In the song the town prostitutes sing the chorus, “Oh, it’s grand how the money changes hands./Yes, it’s grand how the money changes hands./Everybody’s happy; that’s the way it stands/ just as long as the money changes hands.”

The song relates how the men pay the girls, and the girls pay the pimp. The pimp pays the madam who owns the brothel, and she pays the sheriff – Oh, yes, it’s grand how the money changes hands. Everybody’s happy, even the people who watch the play and see in this Wild West commerce a reflection of their own economic activity.

Certainly, we don’t endorse the particular economic cycle being celebrated here, but you get the point. But the song of the prostitutes, while not intended, begs the question. What are the proper ends of economic activity? Is anything people wish to do, which can be transacted by money, a legitimate act of commerce? Can we conduct commercial activity any way we like, or by any means?

Or are there larger and more eternally significant ends for economic activity? Ways more consistent with the wisdom and glory of God?

Making a living
In our secular age and its getting-and-spending economy, most people would acknowledge perhaps two proper ends of economic activity.

The first is to provide for oneself and those for whom he is responsible, or for whom he has a concern. Everybody has to make a living, and those who can’t make it on their own must be provided for by others. In the exchange of work, goods, and services for money, an important part of the purpose of commerce is being fulfilled, as Paul acknowledges in Ephesians 4.28 (see also 2 Thess. 3.10 and 1 Timothy 5.8).

As people go to work and draw a salary, the process of commerce is engaged – of money changing hands. This results is the acquisition of food, clothing, shelter, necessities, and niceties for all those who find themselves within the orbit of the cycle.

A second end of commerce is further back in the economic cycle, and isn’t thought of much by most participants in an economy. But it is absolutely necessary for the first end to be consistently realized. This second end is the development and use of earth’s natural and human resources in such ways as to maximize the wellbeing of all people.

In our day, many questions are on the table about this end of commerce. Concerns are being expressed about the way earth’s resources are being used, the ends toward which we use them, and the ways certain practices bring about negative economic impacts on certain people.

Glorifying God in commerce
This end too is built into the very fabric of the program of the Kingdom economy (cf. Gen. 1.26-28; Gen. 2.15). God plans for people to enjoy the good of the earth and the fruit of their labors; He also commands that we should care for the earth in ways that ensure this end can be consistently and broadly met.

On these two ends for commerce we should be able to get agreement from just about anyone. It’s the third end of commerce that people in a secular age ignore. But this is the most important end of all, for it provides the framework and ordering principles for all other economic activity. That is the end of bringing glory to God, of using all our time, doing all our work, and conducting all our economic activity as unto the Lord, and not unto men (1 Cor. 10.31; Col. 3.23, 24). The absence of this crucial end in the secular economic agenda is the cause for all its failings and ills.

Not all work we might do will bring glory to God, and not every way in which we do our legitimate work will honor Him or further His gracious purposes. It’s only truly grand how the money changes hands when the work, the exchange, and use we make of all our commercial activity is done with the wisdom of God, conscious of His oversight, and as a means of realizing and channeling His grace to the world.

But to pursue commerce in this way, we need to understand God’s framework and guidelines for economic activity. For without an eternal framework and revealed guidelines to direct commerce, it quickly becomes a game of getting-and-spending where it’s every man for himself in figuring out how and to what ends the money should change hands.

For reflection
1.  Where does our society today look for principles to guide economic and commercial activity?

2.  Meditate on 2 Timothy 3.16, 17. Is economic activity a “good work”? Should we expect Scripture to be able to prepare us for this good work? In what ways?

3.  Off the top of your head, what Biblical principles of economics and commerce can you call to mind? Jot them down.

Next steps – Conversation: How does your church prepare its members to live like the Ephesians 4 in their economic and commercial lives? Ask a pastor or church leader.

T. M. Moore

This week’s ReVision study is Part 5 of a 10-part series, “The Kingdom Economy.” You can download “Kingdom Commerce” as a free PDF, prepared for personal or group study. Simply click here. Start your day in the Word of God. Study with T. M. in our daily Scriptorium newsletter, as he walks us through the ongoing work of Christ in the book of Acts. You can subscribe to receive Scriptorium each day at 5:00 am Eastern, or go to the website to download each week’s study in a free PDF.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.