Kingdom Commerce (3)
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Ephesians 4.28
Commerce, commerce everywhere
It would be impossible to catalog all the many and varied types of commercial activity taking place throughout the world at any moment.
“Commerce” is just a word to describe how money—or other items of value—changes hands to satisfy parties in a transaction. Think of all the commercial activity you’re involved in every day. You use electricity from a supplier whom you pay once a month for the privilege. Same with water, Internet, phone, and so forth.
You might head out to the grocery store later today and exchange some of your money for food. If you use a credit card, you or the store will pay a bank or other financial agency for the privilege of that convenience. On the way home you might stop to fill up your car, and perform yet another commercial transaction.
And while you’re doing this, all over the world deals are being signed, accounts are being moved around, bills paid, debts resolved, and probably zillions of other commercial activities, all before you get home from the store.
Commerce is everywhere. So it must be important. But what’s commerce for, exactly?
Two ends of commerce
In our secular age and its getting-and-spending economy, most people would acknowledge perhaps two proper ends of economic activity. These are not inherently sinful, as we can find them used approvingly in Scripture and by the fact that even believers in Jesus participate. They’re not sinful, and they are the main reasons for commerce in our day.
The first is to provide for oneself and those for whom one is responsible, or for whom one 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—the process of money changing hands. This enables the acquisition of food, clothing, shelter, necessities, and niceties for all participants. So this is a good thing, a good gift of the common grace of God.
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 of commerce relates to 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 used, the ends toward which we use them, and the ways certain practices create negative impacts on certain people. Think: fracking. Or how we use our forests and other conserved areas.
Others have questions about the process of how human beings are prepared as responsible participants in the economy. Can we expect maximum flourishing, honest transactions, and thoughtful community-consciousness by continuing to encourage a tribal, political, and fiercely competitive way of life for students in university?
Scripture speaks to such questions as these, for the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, and He expects us to follow His lead even in this second end of commercial activity (cf. Gen. 1.26-28; Gen. 2.15).
Glorifying God in commerce
These two ends of commerce are part of the fabric of the Kingdom economy. 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 everyone. It’s the third end of commerce that people in a secular age ignore. And it’s the one that makes a Kingdom economy an entirely new and different framework for commercial 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). What if all those zillions of commercial transactions every moment were all done to the glory of God, whatever form that might take? The absence of this crucial end in the secular economic agenda is the cause for all its failings and ills.
Our work can bring glory to God. When our commercial activity is according to God and His Word, we will know His wisdom in our transactions, be conscious of the His oversight in all we do, and realize and channel His grace to the world.
In the Kingdom economy, all commercial activity is of God, through God, and unto God and for His glory (Rom. 11.36)
But to pursue commerce in this way, we need to understand how to glorify God within the framework and guidelines for economic activity His Word provides. 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 commerce can proceed.
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 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 (for example, just weights and balances, paying wages in a timely manner).
Next steps—Transformation: How much of your own economic and commercial activity is done consciously unto the Lord? What can you do to be more consistent in glorifying Him in this area?
T. M. Moore
Glorifying God in how we use our money might seem like a small thing. But our life is made of small stuff, and God expects us to work for His glory in all things. Our book, Small Stuff, can help you develop a mindset for glorifying the Lord in whatever you do. Order your copy in book form or as a free PDF.
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: In our Read Moore column, we continue readings from the book, Such a Great Salvation. Our Crosfigell series on Brendan of Clonfert finds him pressing on in his journey to the Promised Land of the Saints. You can subscribe to Read Moore and Crosfigell and receive them in your email regularly. Use the Subscriptions box at the bottom of this page to update your subscriptions. All subscriptions are free. Click the Articles tab on the home page to see all the selections available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
