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> 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:8-10)

I have a confession to make. I’m a sinner. Completely and utterly helpless. If you aren’t convinced by me telling you, you’re more than welcome to ask my wife. Thankfully, my salvation is not dependant on anything I have done, or will do, because, quite frankly, I would be incapable of doing any such thing. It is only by the grace of God that I have been saved, and it is only by his grace that I am capable of good works.

Ephesians 2 is quite clear. I can’t have a hand in my salvation, because if I did, I’d be a complete jerk about it. This actually lines up quite nicely with the New Testament accounts of the Pharisees and the Sadducees who took an extreme amount of pride in their ability to follow the Law (in their minds completely). Jesus countered this mentality with statements like Mat 5:20 “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.“ Meaning that even all of their perceived perfection just wasn’t enough. There were not enough works that they could do in the world that would be effective to actually save them. It was this very philosophy that Hebrews confronted in its famous chapter 11: “1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.“ Emphasizing the fact that it was the faith of the Old Testament saints, not their works, that saved them.

The fact that when Christ came he was drawn to the sinful, the weak and the broken people of the world is no coincidence. He came to these folks, because these people were painfully aware of their need for a savior and salvation. They knew that they could not do it on their own. They knew how bad off they were and how much they needed, and when it was freely offered they partook.

My local church is fond of the following saying: “You a far worse off than you’ve ever imagined, but you are far more loved, than you ever dared dream.” The meaning is quite simple, our sin and the burden of it, is greater than even what we are aware of. However, the love Christ bears us, and the sacrifice he gave, is more than sufficient to forgive all of it, past, present, and future.

Now, just because we’ve established that good works are not necessary to salvation, does not mean that they are not important. Sometimes it is mistakenly communicated that Calvinism and other elements of the reformed faith preach some kind of “Couch Christianity” or other inactive or even hedonistic form of Christianity wherein one can be saved and continue either doing nothing, or continuing in a lifestyle of sin. We must remember that faith is the beginning of regeneration which leads to sanctification.

The fact of the matter is that faith is the first element of a new lifestyle. Paul in Romans 6 pretty clearly lays this out: “1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” We are supposed to die to sin. James (2) is also clear on the subject.

> 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

The fact of the matter is that “by their fruit you will recognize them” (Matt 7:16) means something. If one truly is regenerate, and in the process of becoming sanctified, they will be producing fruit.

So to wrap it up, why am I glad I have nothing to do with my salvation? Because I know that I am incapable of “righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees” and acknowledge that I am even worse than I am aware of. This is the heart of the gospel; we are incapable of even being aware of our need for salvation without Christ softening our hearts and preparing us for him. We don’t deserve it, and when we begin to think that we have done something it is just a continuation of our sinful pride. However, faith is not the end; works must follow faith as fruit grows from a tree. But faith itself, it’s not about me, and boy am I glad for that.

Faith and works only make sense in light of love.  Love is the “big picture” of Scripture by which every piece of the puzzle can be properly understood.  Faith alone is worthless, works alone are worthless, faith and works together are worthless — unless you have love.  And with love, of course there will be faith, and of course there will be works, so the debate becomes moot!

God’s Nature

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

God is love.  It is a radical claim, and a radical deviation from the common view of God as an oppressive Taskmaster with His finger on the “SMITE” button… but this is Scripture.  This is true.  In fact, I am not aware of a more explicit statement in Scripture about the nature of God.  God is love.

God’s Command

Many have trouble believing that “God is love”.  What about the Old Testament?  What about the Law?

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.  (Romans 13:8-10)

(Jesus taught the same thing.)  It turns out that the whole Law was actually an attempt to show mankind what it looks like to walk in love!  Interesting, eh? Perhaps truth isn’t as complex as we thought.

In fact, the commonly-quoted passage that says “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments” is sandwiched between “”A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another” and “This is my commandment, that you love one another” – all in the same discourse!  Likewise, the oft-quoted “you shall be perfect” is the conclusion of a paragraph about loving without partiality!

It seems like God is trying to tell us something… “I want you to be loving!”

Man’s Nature

Man is not loving.  Actually, we are the opposite.  This is why no one could fulfill the Law.  Even those who appeared to fulfill the law by obeying the commandments were not motivated by love, which is why Jesus had to explain in detail that it is your heart that God cares about. (Matthew 5)  All of us our guilty of being unloving.

God’s Invitation

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  -Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30, NASB)

Jesus invites us to come to Him and “take His yoke” upon ourselves.  Modern Christians may not recognize this allusion.  In Jesus’ day, when a farmer acquired a young, untrained ox and wanted to train it to plow, he would yoke it together with an older, well-trained ox.  Over time the untrained ox would learn to plow as the well-trained ox did, and would eventually be just as useful.  The goal was imitation.  Jesus is inviting us to come alongside Him, learn from Him, and imitate Him.

As you have probably guessed by now, imitating Jesus means walking in love.  Jesus is our perfect example:

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. -Jesus (John 15:13)

In order to follow Jesus in love, we actually have to die to ourselves.

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”  -Jesus (Luke 9:23, NASB)

and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (2 Corinthians 5:15, NASB)

Our nature is evil, disgusting, selfish, and bad.  God is love.  We need to die to ourselves and follow Jesus, our perfect example, and walk in loving partnership with our God.

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Understanding “Salvation”

The word salvation has many meanings:

• Conversion: This is where you join God in loving partnership.  This marks the beginning of a new life of following Him in love.  We are only able to do this by the blood of Jesus, poured out for us in love.  Here we are saved from our independence from God’s loving ways.
• Transformation: This is the ongoing process of being transformed more into His image day by day (including things like baptism).  Here we are saved from our disgusting nature (little by little) by learning to be more loving.
• Resurrection: One day you will be raised up and given a new body.  Here you will be saved from your cursed flesh which is doomed to destruction.
• Inheritance: The end goal is to find yourself in Heaven for eternity, saved from Hell (which is the ultimate isolation from God’s love.)

Before discussing “what saves you”, we need to consider which “salvation” we are talking about.  Of course, the “salvation” everyone really cares about is the last one.  “I want to go to Heaven when I die!”

So how will we inherit eternal life?  Good question!

And a lawyer stood up . . . saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

Now that we have the proper context, let us examine the individual pieces of the puzzle

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Faith

Are we saved by faith?  It depends on what you mean by “saved”, and it depends on what you mean by “faith”.  However, faith does play a crucial role in your reconciliation.

• If you are going to follow God, you need to first believe that He exists (Hebrews 11:6)
• You’ll also need to trust that the blood of Jesus is actually enough to pay for all of your filthiness
• You will need to trust that He is good, and entrust your life to Him

Works

Are we saved by works?  It depends on what you mean by “saved”, and it depends on what you mean by “works”.  However, works do play a crucial role in your reconciliation.

• You need to repent.  This means making a decision to walk in the opposite “way”; go to God in prayer, acknowledge your nature, confess His goodness, and commit yourself to Him and His ways.
• You need to die to yourself.  You cannot follow Jesus and live for yourself, in your disgusting self-serving ways.
• You need to take up His yoke and follow Him.  This means beginning to live for Him, in His beautiful, loving ways.
• You need to obey Him.  His ways are higher than yours, and often times, what He calls us to may not make sense.  Why should I get baptized?  What’s the point?  Oh, that’s right – because You commanded it, and you know better than I do what is good and loving.

Love

Faith is important, and works are important.  In fact, they are both essential.  However, if faith and/or works is all you have, that would be pretty worthless.  Love is greater than faith, and faith is worthless without love.  (1 Corinthians 13:2,13)  Love is greater than works, and works are worthless without love.  (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)  Jesus clarifies it for us here:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

You confess Jesus as Lord by faith.  You prophesy by faith.  You cast out demons by faith.  You perform miracles by faith.  Confession, prophecy, exorcisms, and miracles are all works – and good works at that!  Yet Jesus says to these, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

Hopefully this is beginning to make sense.  We need to love Him and love others.  It is about relationship (i.e. knowing Him.)  And this was the message from the very beginning – indeed, this was the whole point of the law.

Conclusion

If you believe “faith alone” is going to land you in Heaven, you are wrong.  (Sorry!)

If you believe you can be right with God by trying to follow commandments, you are wrong.

The only thing that is going to land you in Heaven is God. And He wants you to return to Him. That means learning to love Him. That means loving others – even your enemies. That means trusting Him. That means following Him. Faith has a role in this, and so do works, but neither of those is going to save you if it is all you have.

To become a Saint, nothing more is needed than to gain all the indulgences we can. St. Alphonsus Marie Ligouri 1696-1787

That quote is by my confirmation patron, St. Alphonsus Marie Ligouri. I chose him because I was a big Frank Zappa fan at the time and he seemed to be next best thing to St. Alphonso (of pancake breakfast fame). Choosing him, at the time, seemed to be the most naturally impious thing I could do. But, he did manage to have a lasting impression on me as his imprint, Ligouri Press, happens to publish the Catholic Catechism which I happened to notice one day in a second hand book store which I happened to purchase and read and quite naturally found myself agreeing with everything it said; I even agreed with the part about indulgences, which were one of the lightning rods of the Reformation:

What is an indulgence?
“An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.”
“An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.” The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.
CCC 1471

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The topic of this month’s Eschewmenical query is Salvation and I aim to present an unadulterated Catholic view of the matter. I don’t aim to offend anyone, but this is one of the deeply divisive issues that we can’t exactly pretend don’t make or break our faiths, and I can’t much help it if I hold in antipathy the words of Martin Luther, who said, when justifying his addition of the word “alone” to his translation of the Bible that

If your papist wishes to make a great fuss about the word sola (alone), say this to him: “Dr. Martin Luther will have it so, and he says that a papist and a donkey are the same thing.”

That makes this papist cringe to think that the man who put the Luther in Lutheran couldn’t come up with a better argument than modus jerkface. I’d imagine Catholics have said some pretty rotten things about Protestants over the years, but at least our Popes attempt to write, if not act, in a demure fashion.

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So, if we take it as a given that Martin Luther added “alone” to Romans 2:38 in his translation of the Bible, we certainly don’t see in these modern Protestant translations so why does anyone still think we’re saved by faith alone? Well, CARM has some good reasons. But, I’m not sure that any justification would be needed, if justification itself hadn’t been turned on it’s head by Luther by his insistence on faith alone in the first place.

Martin Luther clearly didn’t like indulgences, that was the start of his trouble. But, if you take everything about Catholicism and toss out indulgences, you still have the Catholic Church… For about 5-6 days, then the system runs out of capital and all hell breaks loose.

In a debased, and probably incorrect way, indulgences are spiritual stock. If the company goes bankrupt, stock certificates are not worth the paper they’re printed on. If one’s soul is not received in to purgatory or Heaven after death, then those indulgences can never be applied.

What Luther seemed to be against at first, the selling of indulgences, is – to me at least – more like what no sporting man from Wisconsin can be against. Purchased indulgences are to the medieval pious Catholic serf what Packers stock is to the modern secular football fan.

And, to illustrate my point, consider the benefits of each:

Packers Stock	Papal Indulgence
Helps build new stadium	Helps build new church
Lasting memento of a seemingly pointless act	Lasting memento of a seemingly pious act
Better than paying more taxes for stadium upkeep	Better than paying more taxes for church upkeep
Probably more trouble than it’s worth to explain to the Bears fans	Definitely more trouble than it’s worth to defend to non-Catholics

Today’s skeptic and yesterday’s reformer may have been against selling indulgences on principle. But, I think they gloss over how incredulous the medieval peasant would be about buying them. We peasants are, as a class, very tight with our money, but I think we would prefer to give it away, storing it where moths and bugs and stuff can’t get at it, than trade it for just a piece of paper. Purchasing indulgence must have been thought of as primarily alms giving and alms giving was one of the things mentioned in other books that got chucked by the reformation.

You will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity. For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps one from entering into Darkness. Tobit 4:8-10

As water quenches a flaming fire, so almsgiving atones for sins. Sirach 3:30

But one such quote (which just barely missed the chopping block), almost identical to what Tobias’s dad and Sirach’s son said was in Daniel:

Therefore, O king, may my advice be acceptable to you; atone for your sins by good deeds, and for your misdeeds by kindness to the poor; then your contentment will be long lasting.” Daniel 4:24

In any event, regardless of how useful I think selling indulgences was, and could yet be, the Church, in her wisdom has ceased to do so. She’s even cleaned up the lingo, as of 60 years ago, to make it so just plenary (total remission of punishment due to sin) and partial (partial remission of punishment) indulgences exist. Instead of:

• 50 days off purgatory for making the sign of the cross
• 100 days off purgatory for making the sign of the cross with Holy Water
• 200 days off purgatory for making the sign of the cross in a church with Holy Water

Nevertheless, these things still are partial indulgences, but there’s no need to be scrupulous about them any more. The mere existence of the Church’s teaching on indulgences assures one that good works one does to gain indulgences (whether one is aware of them or not) should never be in vain.

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So much for works. Let’s concentrate on faith. Would it be wrong of me, as a Catholic, to say that it is faith in Jesus that saves us?

Nope, but that’s the beginning. But, like so many other beginnings, it’s really the most important part. We call it sanctifying grace; the grace brought on by Christ’s sacrifice which saves us. It’s not our doing, it’s not merely a result of our assent at Baptism, although that is then that it enters us forever. It is wholly beyond our comprehension, but it exists nevertheless.

Once baptized, the Christian enters a world where grace is necessary to move through life. Grace is spiritual grease.

Grace precedes, prepares and elicits our free response. CCCC 425

The freedom we gain through baptism is a freedom to be obedient to Christ. The freedom to follow the Law:

I will love You more than myself and myself only for Your sake; I will love all others in You and for You, as Your law of love commands; Imitation of Christ (Book 2 Chapter 5 Paragraph 6)

The New Law is mainly the same grace of the Holy Spirit which is given to believers in Christ. St. Thomas Aquinas

So, even when someone correctly interprets Galatians 2:16 and Romans 3:28 (which everyone seems to do) concerning justification through Faith vs Works of the Law. One can hardly say that for the Christian, to whom much has been revealed and much is expected, we are saved through works of the Law. Because our works are faith and our faith is works.

And to tie the point around to Catholicism, which is often criticized for adding too much work (Liturgy, by the way, is literally work of the people) to the requirements of the faithful, it is good to note that Catholic Church never claims to have discovered or created a more important commandment than “Love”.

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But, in the end, it is God’s decision whether or not we shall be saved, not ours. Our knowledge of our faith can’t assure us a place in Heaven. Our knowledge of our good works can’t assure us of a place in Heaven. No amount of indulgences and no spiritual awareness can change that.

All we know is that the measure by which we measure will be measured out against us (Matt 7:2) and the heavenly house is very spacious (John 14:2). That it is better to be awake, prepared for the bridegrooms return than it is to be asleep at the wheel because not everyone who in their faith acknowledges God and cries Lord Lord who will, in the end, be known by God (Matt 25:1-13). It takes an insignificant amount of faith to move mountains (Matt 17:20). It was an ignoble work (Matt 26:49) which brought about the greatest test of faith God or man will ever know (Mark 14:34). But it was a simple yes (Luke 1:38), a work of faith, which brought in to being the greatest Man and God the world will ever know.

1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.

Jacobus Arminius began his career as a theologian and preacher in the Reformed (i.e., Calvinist) tradition in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Over time, Arminius found himself disagreeing with Calvinist theology on several key points of doctrine.

Arminius studied theology at the University of Leiden, in what is now the Netherlands, where most of the professors held an extreme form of Calvinism that included a doctrine known as supralapsarianism. According to this view, God decreed some people to be saved and others to be damned before God decreed to allow the Fall. Most of the professors at Leiden held this view, although one—Johann Kolmann—argued that it made God out to be a tyrant and an executioner.

After earning his degree from Leiden, Arminius went to Geneva to study under Theodore Beza—another supralapsarian—for six years, before returning to Amsterdam to become a pastor. As he studied the Bible for sermon prepration, he developed an understanding of grace and predestination that was increasingly at odds with the teachings of Calvin and Beza.

Running Aimlessly

Arminius never doubted the Calvinist doctrine of Total Depravity, the idea that human nature is so completely corrupted by sinfulness that we cannot be saved on our own merits, nor even choose to accept the salvation God offers.

Jesus himself explained God’s standard for righteousness.

Matthew 5:48
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

To put it in today’s language, God has a zero-tolerance policy for sin.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, makes note of what percentage of the human population actually live up to this standard:

Romans 3:23
…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

To extend Paul’s race analogy from 1 Corinthians 9, if salvation is like running a race, then the sinful nature is like running aimlessly with no idea that the race course even exists.

In his understanding of humans’ sinful nature, Arminius remained true to his Calvinist upbringing. But during his years in the pulput Arminius discovered a number of areas where he could no longer agree with Calvinist teachings. The more he studied his Bible, the more Arminius encountered passages that he simply could not reconcile with the doctrines he had been taught at Leiden.

To the Starting Line

For example, two doctrines of Calvinism are Limited Atonement—the belief that God’s grace was made available only to a select group—and Unconditional Election—the teaching that before the foundation of the earth God made the final decision about who would be saved.

But a number of New Testament passages indicate that God’s will is for everyone to be saved.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

1 Timothy 2:3-4
This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Titus 2:11-13
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

If God wants everyone to be saved, then Limited Atonement and Unconditional Election leave us with a God who subverts his own will.

But as Arminius discovered, the Bible contains a different teaching about election.

Romans 10:9-10
…because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

Acts 16:30-31
Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

John 1:11-12
[Jesus] came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.

If I can extend Paul’s race metaphor even further, God is not going to exclude anyone from competing in this race. However, we are so far off course that it takes an act of God to bring us to the starting line. We can let him lead us there, or we can continue going our own way and getting nowhere.

Running the Race

When we reach the starting line, what does God expect from us? A simple one-time confession, a recitation of the “Sinner’s Prayer”? Or does God want something more?

According to the Calvinist doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints, a person who is saved can never fall away. But once again the Bible appears to teach something different.

Matthew 24:10-13
Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

James 2:17-24
So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

So salvation depends on our works as well as our faith. Just as God does not drag us to the starting line without a response from us, God also does not run the race of salvation for us. Rather, this race is something we run in partnership with God. Because, as it turns out, our good works are not really our own.

Philippians 2:12b-13
[W]ork out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

What God expects of us is nothing less than a complete transformation of our entire being, so that we live for God’s will and not our own.

Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Crossing the Finish Line

This transformation takes time. Paul recognized that even after he had converted from Judaism to Christianity and preached Christ throughout the Roman Empire, he had not reached the finish line of salvation.

Philippians 3:10-14
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

This is a marathon, not a sprint. We can’t quit the race in the middle, or leave the course to follow our own interests, if we want to win the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

In Summary

Salvation is like a marathon, and we are like runners who don’t even realize the course exists. But God has set conditions by which we can not only compete in the race, but win. God will even bring us to the starting line if we let him lead us. But the starting line is not the end of the race; it is merely the beginning. To win this race we must follow God’s course and not veer off on our own way. It is only by enduring to the finish that we will receive our eternal reward.

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Next week, Peter Turner will bring us the Catholic perspective as he explains why God’s the guy with the gun.

If you’ve been following along with my posts, you might have noticed that I’ve managed to cover all the standard characteristics of Evangelicalism except “conversionism, the belief that lives need to be changed”. I admit to stretching the assigned topic at times to get through the list, but this month’s topic, “Faith and Works”, is a softball pitch of the beer-in-one-hand variety for me. Salvation is the term Christians (especially Evangelicals) use to describe the conversion event and Protestantism was founded because of our insistence that conversion is an act of faith and not of works. I could dig up a quote from one of Paul’s letters and be done with it, but it turns out to be not that easy.

A few weeks ago, my son asked me what the most important two parts of a walkie-talkie are. (He’s at a very analytic stage in life.) My answer was maybe the transmitter and the receiver, which sounded about right to him. Then we talked about which parts we could get rid of. For instance, our set has a little LED flashlight, which is handy, but not necessary. They also have a hands-free feature that makes the Push-to-Talk button potentially superfluous. If you don’t mind the cross-talk from being locked into one channel, there’s a bunch of parts that are used to set up the frequency that could be removed. The only functions of a walkie-talkie that really can’t be taken away are the ability to send and receive radio transmissions. Without one or the other, it’s just not a walkie-talkie.

Salvation is a bit like a walkie-talkie: you need both faith and works or else you don’t really have salvation.

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One of Protestantism’s touchstone stories for illustrating that faith is all you need for salvation is the two criminals crucified on either side of Jesus. One mocked Jesus mercilessly, but the other asked Jesus to remember him when he came into His kingdom. It must have struck observers as pretty humorous since all three men were surely destined to suffer for a few more hours and then die. Jesus promised the man who asked that they would meet that very day in paradise. By implication, the man was saved purely by his faith in Jesus as the literal Son of God.

We have a walkie-talkie like that: it can only send pre-loaded call-tones since the microphone broke somehow. My son set up a convoluted game of hide-and-seek that involved the seeker using the receive-only device while the hider transmitted hints. (He’s at the arbitrary rule-making age too.) Lots of folks figure God works a bit like this: we are looking for Him and He transmits revelations to guide us now and again. All you need to do is know the right things and you will be saved.

Historically, this view is associated with the heresy of Gnosticism. Bonhoeffer called the modern variation “cheap grace“. Jesus’ brother, James, called it dead faith. Taken to the extreme, once a person makes the salvation decision they are assured of eternal bliss and believe nothing else matters in this life. Nothing could be further from the truth—Jesus spent the bulk of His teaching exhorting His followers to love others as themselves (the Golden Rule) and to love God with everything they had.

But there is a kernel of truth in the idea that we don’t have to do something for God in order for Him to rescue us. Way back in Genesis 3, humanity was captured by evil and we cannot escape without divine intervention. The Hebrew Scriptures tell the story of a failed attempt to free one nation from the tyranny of sin via religious activity. Occasionally an individual will achieve a greater level of righteousness than their contemporaries, but when sin rubs against human institutions God’s priorities usually get lost in the shuffle. That’s why, when Jesus walked among His chosen people, He had to drive out profiteers who changed foreign money so that worshipers could pay the temple tax.

While I was on vacation in Hawaii last week, I witnessed a man pulled back to the beach by a pair of divers who had found him on the bottom of a snorkeling lagoon. Most likely, he got tired from fighting the surf, panicked, and accidentally swallowed some water. At that point, he would have been helpless to rescue himself. That’s what happens when we start getting sucked down by sin—we start off doing something a little dangerous and end up overwhelmed. I know that’s what has happened to me.

In the depths of sin, we need God to rescue us and we can never rescue ourselves. But you can’t say you’ve been rescued if you keep going back to the dangerous place and taking crazy risks. Salvation is a lot less like a ticket to heaven and a lot more like an AA chip. Thankfully and paradoxically, God has provided a way for followers of Jesus to escape sin daily: His own Spirit.

To me, salvation is the total package. We can’t save ourselves from our addiction to sin so we need faith. And yes, we risk falling back into sin if we don’t continue to pursue a godly life via works. In order to be effective at either faith or works, we need God’s Spirit to guide our steps. Further, we need the other believers to support us in these things. And prayer! Don’t forget prayer. Reading your Bible can help too. And so on.

All of this is to say, you could probably communicate with a pair of walkie-talkies that have just a transmit and receive function, but that’s not the best option. Even seemly pointless features, like a flashlight, turn out to be wonderfully useful and appreciated at times. God isn’t really interested in giving us the most basic tools to live a good life. He’s interested in giving us the best tools:

For thus says the LORD:
“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
    ‘O LORD, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel.’—Jeremiah 31:7 (ESV)

So in the weeks to come, starting with Bruce‘s Arminian/Wesleyan perspective, remember that we all agree that Salvation is what Jesus has done for us even though we disagree about the mechanism of Salvation.

Hello, and welcome to July on Eschewmencial.

Every month we choose a new topic and present several different doctrinal perspectives on the same theme. We encourage debate and discussion of these ideas and desire to provide an open forum for such.

This month’s topic is the age old showdown between Faith and Works. Not to rub salt in old wounds, but this debate was one of the primary drivers of the reformation and the great church schism that has risen out of that event. It’s also been an ever present topic on Christianity Stackexchange. In fact this question and this question attempt to find the proof on each side of the issue.

A search through the scripture will also find what seem like mixed messages, including lines like “by grace you have been saved, through faith” (Eph 2:8) and “faith without deeds is useless.” (James 2:20) What conclusions and views will our author’s draw? Find out this month as we explore the centuries old debate of Salvation by Faith or Works.

• 7/2 Jon (Evangelical—Salvation is what God does for us)
• 7/9 Bruce (Arminian/Wesleyan – Running to Win the Prize)
• 7/16 Peter (Catholic – Faith, Works, God’s the Guy with Gun)
• 7/23 Wax (Reformed – Irresistible)
• 7/30 Jas 3.11 (Jasian – A Beautiful Partnership)

Again thanks for reading. This is Eschewmenical!

Evangelicals have a long tradition of activism. Unfortunately, we haven’t always exactly been honorable in our activism lately and at critical moments, we’ve done too little to speak out against injustice. As a result, at least in the United States, Christianity has developed a strange split-identity. On the one hand, we are making a difference with our actions, but on the other, we are ashamed to be called “Christian”.

A few years ago, a co-worker found out I was Christian. Whenever he came to talk about a Bible study or prayer or spiritual things, he would want to close my door and/or talk in a whisper. I guess it had something to do with a fear of persecution. He must not have heard or remembered what Paul said to Timothy: “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.“

I really think we can learn a thing or two from the LGBT concept of coming out, which has successfully transformed homosexuality from a crippling social stigma into being a respected community within Western culture within the last hundred years. Coming out changes perceptions because the people who do it:

1. boldly lay claim to their identity, and
2. tell their own stories honestly.

All too often, Christians do exactly the opposite—especially in the workplace when we rub shoulders with people of other religious convictions. We want to be faithful to our identity as Christians but we don’t know how.

One approach that doesn’t work goes something like this:

• Hang a Thomas Kinkade print in your cubicle hoping that the “positive image” will help co-workers find religion.
• Begin each day with a silent prayer asking that our work will be pleasing to God, but not praying for specifics.
• Wear a “Lord’s Gym” T-shirt under your work apparel so that you will always have Jesus close to your heart.
• Drop vague references to Christian rock lyrics in conversation.
• Place Chick Tracts on co-worker’s desks after they’ve gone home for the night.

This way, we can feel like we are claiming our identity in Christ without actually risking being held to it. It’s like a coded language that Christians will understand and agree with, but won’t be clear to others at work. It amounts to a refusal to take on an association with Jesus in the public sphere.

Equally unhelpful:

• Hang a print of Michelangelo’s Last Judgement in your cubicle.
• Begin each meeting with an invitation to join in prayer.
• Wear a “Lord’s Gym” T-shirt as your work apparel.
• Be sure to say “Lord willing” and “God bless you!” often in conversations.
• Put the “Four Spiritual Laws” on your business cards.

Unless you happen to do these things naturally (and I have met few guys with that personality), these over-the-top displays of Christianity are hypocritical. They tell a story, but not our story. Here’s what the early Church took to be it’s story:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.—1^st Peter 2:9-10 (ESV)

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I became known as a Christian at my office when I started dating my soon-to-be fiancée. She had always been interested in international missions and I preferred to stay at home reading, playing computer games, and making ill-advised suggestions for Perl 6. But we were getting serious about our relationship and she was planning to spend two months in Mexico City as a short-term missionary, so I figured I better find out if I could be involved in it myself.

Meanwhile, I was changing projects at work and told my new boss that I was thinking of taking two months of unpaid leave. If truth were told, I sort of hoped he would say that he couldn’t spare me for that long and I would have to (i.e., get to) stay home. But he was glad to let me go since work was slow at the time. So I started making preparations: practicing my high school Spanish at a Hispanic church service, applying to the missionary program, and raising/saving money.

At long last, the program accepted me (I was secretly disappointed), I got my airline ticket, packed my bag, and arrived in Mexico City. At that point I finally discovered the biggest hurdle to my new calling: mime ministry. Somehow I failed to notice that our team would be asked to put on face paint and do pantomime. Miraculously, I survived. More than that, I fell in love with the city and the people who welcomed me there. God made me a new person—a person who enjoys missionary work. (I have never gone back to miming, however.)

When I returned, everyone knew that I was a Christian. A few months later, 9/11 happened. A Muslim co-worker put two and two together and invited me into a dialogue seeking reconciliation between our religions. We didn’t solve the problem of world peace, but we did have some very enjoyable lunch conversations. I continued to worship in Spanish (to this day).

My girlfriend and I got engaged and married and took even more short-term trips to Latin America. Each time, I simply told people where we were going and when someone asked what we were doing, I told them. One person found out that I was going to Bolivia and told me, very sincerely and sorrowfully, that Machu Picchu is in Peru! That gave me an opportunity to explain that my purpose wasn’t tourism, so I hadn’t made a mistake. I’ve even sent support letters to people I know will be interested in what our team is up to.

So far, the only “persecution” I experienced was being told to remove a Bible verse from my email signature, since it was “unprofessional”. Otherwise, people either ignore my faith to treat me like anyone else, or engage with me as a Christian. People regularly ask me to pray for family members with illness and ask me about what Christians believe. I put up a couple of printouts of 3:16 passages that I think are kinda awesome and I keep a Bible at my desk. A few years ago, I joined the Gideons and wear their pin on my badge holder. I don’t hide my story anymore, nor do I force it on unsuspecting passers-by.

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When you come right down to it, Christians who give the church a bad name and Christians who are embarrassed by the church have missed the main point of the gospel. Whatever God is doing, whether we understand it or not, is good news. We need to share our joy in His work. And if we don’t have joy in it, we ought to reflect on why not and pray for God’s spirit. But that’s a topic for next month.

According to everyone who knew him, former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay was a good guy. He was a devoted husband and father, a faithful member of First United Methodist Church in Houston, a skilled mediator of conflict, a generous person who donated millions of dollars every year to nonprofit organizations. He spoke words of praise to a member of the cleaning crew at the courthouse where Lay was on trial, and he once paid the bill of the woman in front of him in a checkout line when she realized she had left her money in the car.

Ken Lay was also an astute businessman. Named CEO of Houston Natural Gas in 1984, he guided the company through nearly two decades of growth, during which time the company merged with InterNorth to become Enron Corporation. Lay understood that the key to Enron’s growth was recognizing that its true product was not gas but energy. He believed in Enron’s goals, and in the innovative ways the company strove to reach them. He held most of his $400 million fortune in Enron stock, and when the company collapsed into bankruptcy, Ken Lay lost more money than any other shareholder.

Lay insisted to the end that he was not a criminal. He insisted that he did not participate in the corporate embezzlement and market manipulations of Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and company President Jeffrey Skilling, and that their financial crimes took place without his knowledge. But the court proceedings only partially validated his claims. Unlike Skilling and Fastow, Ken Lay was not charged with insider trading. However, he was indicted—and convicted—of conspiring to cover up the crimes.

And this was not the first time Lay was confronted with this type of situation. In the late 1980s, when faced with evidence that executives in Enron’s oil-trading division were embezzling, Lay chose to remove them from any financial responsibilities but not to fire them. We can’t know now what his reasoning was for this move, but Enron’s subsequent history shows the message received by some employees was that criminal activity would be treated with leniency, as long as it increased the quarterly profits.

We could speculate all day over how innocent or guilty Ken Lay actually was, but that wouldn’t be beneficial to anyone. What can benefit us is to look at the collapse of Enron in the light of the Christian faith that Lay professed, and see if there are lessons we can apply to our own lives.

As a CEO, Ken Lay was responsible for maintaining the company’s profitability for its shareholders every quarter and providing an environment where Enron employees could contribute to that profitability. Indeed, the “bottom line”—the colloquial term for net profit, due to its location on an income statement—has emerged in our culture as a metaphor for whatever is most important in a given situation.

But for a Christian, the bottom line isn’t the most important thing. The United Methodist Church—Ken Lay’s denomination and mine—speaks about corporate responsibility in the Book of Discipline, ¶163 (i):

Corporations are responsible not only to their stockholders, but also to other stakeholders: their workers, suppliers, vendors, customers, the communities in which they do business, and for the earth, which supports them.

Taken at face value, this suggests that a CEO must find a way to balance commitment to the bottom line with responsibility to the workforce and to the wider community. But is that all there is to being a Christian in corporate leadership?

The Bible itself has few teachings relating solely to work, but when it does speak about workplace relations, the bulk of responsibility falls on the employer. Deuteronomy 24:14, for example, says:

You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns.

We can hear echoes of this command in James 5:4.

Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

The Bible doesn’t say much else about the workplace, though it does include variations on this theme. So on the surface it doesn’t look like Scripture can provide much insight into situations like the one Ken Lay found himself in at Enron.

But if we take a closer look, we see that giving workers their fair pay is just the tip of the iceberg. Isaiah 58:3 speaks of those who, seeking to please God, spend a day fasting but do not take care of the people in their employ.

“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers.

Putting work relationships in the context of a fast gives us a new perspective on fasting and work. Continuing in Isaiah 58, we see:

Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Normally we think of fasting as abstaining from food for a specified time. According to Isaiah, however, God is more interested in how we treat other people. It’s not about depriving ourselves, but about being more in touch with the needs of the people around us—and then moving beyond simple awareness to making a real difference.

If God does not approve of a fast that causes an employer to oppress his or her workers, God surely does not approve of a focus on the quarterly bottom line that overlooks malfeasance and ultimately leads to bankruptcy, leaving those workers without jobs or pensions. The best way to keep people out of poverty is to provide them the opportunity to earn a living. Christians in positions of corporate leadership have a chance to provide this opportunity; they therefore have a responsibility, not to seek balance between the quarterly goals and the company’s long-term sustainability, but to put the needs of the workers first—even if it causes the shareholders short-term pain.

Putting people ahead of profits solves Ken Lay’s dilemma, by preventing the situation from arising in the first place.

This blog concerns Christianity in the workplace and mine is the Catholic stance on the subject. Right now, 40 some odd Catholic institutions are suing the US government over a contraception mandate that the Catholic Bishops believe   will cause Catholic institutions to violate their individual consciences, collectively. So, it would be tempting to write about how paying out of your own pocket to facilitate your neighbor’s purchase of abortion inducing medication might violate a Catholic’s conscience. But, I’d rather leave that up to the moral theologians to debate so nuanced an affront to religious freedom. I’d rather talk about things a Catholic (or at least me), doesn’t do, but in so not-doing should take with them to the confessional and leave there.

 

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The Average Tuesday

Time	Activity	Details
8:00 AM	Startup Routine	Check GMail; check Facebook; check Stackoverflow; check blog responses; check Google Reader; check Ain’t it Cool news; check XKCD (even though it’s Tuesday);
8:15 AM	Realization of purpose	Check work e-mail; check bug reports; check in code from last night; copy out binaries; update repository; fix conflicts; recomplile; check in code; test code; repeat as needed.
11:00 AM	Burrito Time	Time to order burritos ( nothing sinful about burritos ) But when it’s time to pick them up, let Sergio volunteer to get them for the fifth time in a row.
11:45 AM	Lunch	With a fat, juicy burrito in hand, let the phone ring through to voice mail because the receptionists are out to lunch. Ignore it because no one wants fat juice on their phone.
12:30 PM	Post-lunch Activities	Check Internet for diffs from 8:00 check-out. Do the same on repository. Ignore the bug fixes as they come in because there is a more important progress bar synchronization issue that has stymied the project for a week.
3:00 PM	Bug Fix Time	Test the morning’s bug reports. Mark two as unable to reproduce; three are obvious user errors; one is too verbose to understand; and another sounds more like a feature request. They all are returned to their senders unmolested.
5:00 PM	Steppin Time	Sneak out of the office as quietly as a mouse.

 

My Tuesday may not seem monumental and it may not seem particularly smart, but it’s the truth and buried in there are the undone misdeeds known as “sins of omission”.  They weren’t there when I was fresh out of college; they were habituated into my schedule by a lack of discipline and an unwillingness to see that there were problems.

The reins of discipline were slackened on me, so that without the restraint of due severity, I might play at whatsoever I fancied, even to the point of dissoluteness. And in all this there was that mist which shut out from my sight the brightness of the truth, o my God, and my iniquity bulged out, as it were, with fatness. [ St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 2 ]

St. Augustine considered his break with the discipline of his youth to be the beginnings of his licentiousness (he even alluded to the burrito fat drippings). When discipline doesn’t guide actions, then actions lack the promise that training and experience provides. When I program on cruise control, I write a lot of bugs and spend a lot more time doing nothing. But, when I plan and act in a focused manner, I save time and save the company money. But I may be saving more than that; I may be saving my soul.

But You, my Lord, were prepared for me to misuse Your grace for almost twenty years and to accept the injury so that I might become better. It seems, o God as if I had promised to break all the promises I made You, though this was not my intention at the time. When I look back on these actions of mine I do not know what my intentions were, But what they clearly reveal, O my Spouse, is the difference between You and myself. [ St. Theresa of Avila, The Life of St Theresa of Avila by Herself ]

If you’re reading this, then it’s not too late!

Wonder-Coder, God-Hacker, Bug-Fixer-Forever, Prince of Programmers

What if Jesus were a programmer?

• Would He forget to check in His code?
• Would He check His personal email as often as His work email?
• Would He send back a bug fix, saying it was not reproducible without fully understanding the problem?
• Would He volunteer to go get burritos?

You should see Jesus in your coworker, just as you should see Him in the least of those among you and by syllogism 1.a of the transitive property of scripture, you should also recognize that your coworker should see Jesus in yourself . But, seeing Christ in your neighbor, or coworker, is hard to do. Almost as hard as seeing Him in the Holy Eucharist. It’s not a trick, but if one makes a conscious effort to do so, on a regular basis, one will be all the more happier for it.

The other thing one must do to attain Christ like code completeness is, after one stops punishing others with one’s odious presence, one’s conscience must be formed.

A conscience which remains silent is a sick conscience. A man unable to recognize his guilt and who continues to suffer from it is not a liberated man, but a spiritual cripple. [Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) as quoted in You Can Become a Saint]

It’s getting to know the natural moral law which moves one in the direction of a well formed conscience. The natural law is a mode of philosophy geared toward taking what things are, and saying what things should do.

The Natural Law would probably state that a computer program needs to work. After all, such applications are supposed to work, not generate random access violations at address such and such.

To put a program in line with the Natural Law, a well formed conscience would fix all bugs first and check in all code that pertains to changes and only code that works reasonably well

The Natural Law would take into consideration the nature of work and the duties outlined therein.

It follows that work email, not personal email, is to be checked during work hours. Linux.SE not Lego.SE is to be consulted during work hours to fix the scripts on the web server.

The Natural Law would consider: what is the responsibility of a programmer when faced with a bug report?

The programmer’s responsibility is to find the bug, not give up, not make inferences into the IQ of the writer of the bug, and not make assumptions about his or her motivation for writing the bug report, other than that it was written for the good of the program.

The Natural Law is certainly not at odds with aspects of the Categorical Imperative

Kant would most likely say that whosoever never picks up burritos is a hoser, if not a tragic hoser

But it’s not just our responsibility to follow the Natural Law; it’s our duty. Dereliction of that duty is illegal and will send our souls to the slammer. We also must follow the Church’s law because

The Catholic Church is by the will of Christ, the teacher of truth. It is her duty to proclaim and teach with authority the truth which is Christ and, at the same time, to declare and confirm by her authority the principles of the moral order which springs from human nature itself [Vatican II Declaration on Religious Liberty]

and beyond that we’ve got to follow human laws, and etiquette and all that, but for the Christian worker, it is most important that we form and follow our consciences to bring about the Kingdom in our daily dealings.

If, for whatever reason, at your job it becomes impossible for you to follow your conscience, then it is time to speak up or leave. However, if the government is the one who is causing your crisis of conscience then it is time to take to the streets and join us in the Fortnight For Freedom!

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Next up on Eschewmenical is Bruce Alderman’s Methodist take on the subject of conscience in the workplace. Stay tuned!

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:3 that none can say “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Spirit. The point is not that our mouths cannot form these syllables unless there is some kind of divine intervention – but rather that this confession is a radical statement of our priorities. You see, in the Roman Empire, one could be made to regularly confess “Caesar is Lord,” and to fail to do so would death. Even our Lord, Jesus Christ, did not provoke Caesar. Rather, he said, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and render unto the Lord that which is the Lord’s.” The problem, of course, is that ultimately, “no man can serve two masters,” and if Jesus is Lord, Caesar cannot be.

As I have worked my way up the chain of command as a lowly software developer to the point where I am now the lead of our Network Operations Center, I am daily reminded of this dichotomy. To say “Jesus is Lord” is to model servant leadership. It is to care for the weak and lowly. It is to be meek – having the power to demand your own way, but not exercising that preogative. It is, in short, to put the welfare of others before myself, for as it has been said elsewhere, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.” (Sorry, sometimes Star Trek has good theology – and you gotta give it its due!) That attitude will carry a company far – but lets face it. It will get your career moving – right out the door.

In private industry, the workplace is a cut-throat kind of place. Gone are the days when you spend your entire life working hard for one employer, who in turn will take care of you until you die. Nowadays the closest you’ll ever get to a golden watch is a radioactive time clock. In a dog-eat-dog world, the dogs are more than happy to let you call yourself a Christian (preferably not at the office, and definitely not when HR is watching!) as long as it is nothing more than a meaningless commentary on your hobbies. The other dogs may enjoy brewing beer, going to baseball games, or painting minatures. If you like to spend your Sunday mornings dressed up in uncomfortable clothes listening to some dork drone on endlessly about irrelevant matters – well, hey, different strokes for different folks. That’s the only religion that everyone agrees to!

But, when you want to start acting like a Christian is business, that’s another matter entirely. We all talk about ethics, and only a very few are actually willing to break them – but remember, if Jesus is Lord, ethics aren’t rules and boundary lines; instead, they are guiding principles. They animate what we do. In the blog What’s Best Next, Matt Perman (formerly associated with John Piper’s Desiring God Ministries) loves to show how truly Christ-Centered management practice is radically different beast, promoting the lowly and bringing out the best in people. In contrast, the workplace is far too often a battlefield where the only thing brought out is bile. If you need proof of that, you need only peruse our sister site, workplace.stackexchange.com, where you can see “par for the course” in management.  When Jesus isn’t Lord, you see:

• People entitled to legal benefits are threatened with being let go if they are exercised
• Colleagues who are actively asked to cover up mistakes
• Families being shortchanged of time with their parents
• Agreements becoming null and void because of changes in leadership

On and on, it seems the regular experience of many folks is that the workplace is an exercise in the state of nature – a place that is as the phrase goes, “nasty, brutish, and short.”

Even in government, where you really can have a job for life, I’ve run into this same pattern – that Christianity is a fine hobby for the weekends, but not something you do in the office. As part of working in the intelligence arena in the U.S. government, citizens who desire a security clearance are afforded the wonderful privilege of sitting for a polygraph. You are seated in a chair, interviewed, and then the same questions will be asked as they put a blood pressure cuff around your arm and basically turn off the circulation for 10 – 20 minutes each session. It is an uncomfortable exercise in intimidation as you are forced to convince a machine that no, in fact, you haven’t done drugs (I really haven’t), don’t like to expose your private parts to little children (really, they ask that!), and generally are so patriotic that George Washington makes up corny stories and songs about you. It was in this environment that I was asked, “Do you have any concerns about this polygraph?” when I sat for the first time. I answered, “Yes. I am afraid you will ask me – ‘Is my highest loyalty to my God or to my country.’ because the truth is, my highest loyalty is to my God. When I say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ I mean it.” The polygrapher thought for a second and then answered, “Well, I don’t think there is any conflict between the two.” As I really wanted the job, I didn’t correct him – but really, if my government asked me to lie, cheat, steal – there is. There is always a conflict when you have two masters.

You see, Christianity is not a hobby that you do on weekends. “Done right,” it permeates everything we do. It means even as we attempt to move up the corporate ladder, it constrains our behavior – reminding us that we are “ambassadors for Christ.” I’ve seen the power plays that people have done to get where they are. Many of them would get me made a “persona non grata” if exposed to the daylight of public scrutiny. As a former government employee, the line between “patriotism” and godliness is not always as clear as my naive polygrapher would liked it to have been. As one who knows that he is “an alien and a stranger” and is seeking “a city whose builder and founder is God,” I know that while I can and should contribute to and love my country – ultimately, I am less vested in any given kingdom of this earth than in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Ultimately, in the workplace, that is our dilemma: we are passing through. This planet has strange customs. We are expected to “look out for number one,” and yet encouraged to poison that selfsame person at a bar (really – check the science for yourself – alcohol is a mild poison that attacks the body) in order to find a mate and draw closer to your colleagues at work. We are expected to fight even though most of us desire harmony. Competition must always be “fair” (at least in public), but we also know that “Winning’s not everything – it’s the only thing.”

This is not to say it is impossible to be an ethical businessman. Christians can and have found ways to work within the system and be successful. Some hide and compartmentalize their faith, and many of the best have found ways to succeed as Christians. The Franklin-Templeton group, for example, has been highly successful at investing, and also invests in “religous advancement” through its annual Franklin-Templeton Prize. Much has been made of Chik-Fil-A’s refusal to compromise on Sabbath work (leaving aside the question of whether that’s Saturday or Sunday). And, even some (non-US!) governments have realized that they needed training in the ethics that comes from religion. But the fact that these are the “exceptional,” “top-of-mind” examples shows how out of the norm it is.  Seriously – when you think of “corporations,” which comes to mind first – Enron or Templeton?

As Christians, then, we have a fundamental question to answer. Is Christianity a hobby – something we’ll secretly practice on the weekends, or is Jesus the Lord of our Mondays as well as of our Sundays? Don’t be fooled; it isn’t an easy question. Being an overt Christian is not the “boost to your career” it may have been in our parents and grandparents’ generation, when the church was much like the local Kiwanis club. One way or another – Jesus is Lord or Jesus is a Hobby.

As a former Baptist, we were always big on “bringing all things in submission to Christ.”  It’s a serious question. Admittedly, as an Episcopalian now, I see less of that talk – and sometimes it scares me. In the older prayer books, the concept was decidedly present, but it my sense is that as the church has moderated and modernized, I wonder how many of us do see our faith as our hobby.

In the workplace, the rubber hits the road. My faith is either something I do from time to time, or it is something I am.  If Jesus is Lord, he is the Lord of my work and of my Sundays. If not, he’s just a hobby.