Rev. Philip Brooks on the Duty of Christian Businessmen

Men are talking about the institutions in which you are engaged, my friends, about the business from which you have come here to worship for this little hour. Men are questioning about what they care to do, what they can have to do with Christianity. They are asking everywhere this question: "Is it possible for a man to be engaged in the activities of our modern life and yet to be a Christian? Is it possible for a man to be a broker, a shopkeeper, a lawyer, a mechanic, is it possible for a man to be engaged in a business of to-day, and yet love his God and his fellow-man as himself?" I do not know. I do not know what transformations these dear businesses of yours have got to undergo before they shall be true and ideal homes for the child of God; but I do know that upon Christian merchants and Christian brokers and Christian lawyers and Christian men in business to-day there rests an awful and a beautiful responsibility: to prove, if you can prove it, that these things are capable of being made divine, to prove that a man can do the work that you have been doing this morning and will do this afternoon, and yet shall love his God and his fellow-man as himself. If he cannot, if he cannot, what business have you to be doing them? If he can, what business have you to be doing them so poorly, so carnally, so unspiritually, that men look on them and shake their heads with doubt? It belongs to Christ in men first to prove that man may be a Christian and yet do business; and, in the second place, to show how a man, as he becomes a greater Christian, shall purify and lift the business that he does and make it the worthy occupation of the Son of God.

Taken in part from: The Project Gutenberg EBook of Addresses, by Phillips Brooks

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.net

Our Talents Belong to God (Part One:Christ in My Career)

What keeps many from thinking about being a witness in their workplace is the belief that the sacred and secular are separate. What happens on Sunday stays on Sunday. Growing up I was under the impression that we could live as we like during the week as long as we gave God Sundays and Wednesday nights. But since I gave my life to the Lord, I have learned better.

Not only does our little 10% belong to the Lord, our whole life does. In this post I would like to share a little of the first chapter of Allen W. Graves’ book, “Christ in My Career”, published in 1958 by Convention Press. He brings out Paul’s writing in 1 Cor. 6:19-20,

“What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price.”

 And Mr. Graves says, “Christians belong to God, A Christian’s life is measured by the way in which it is used for God.” Or may I say, “Used by God?”  Also, Mr. Graves adds, “The freedom of the Christian is disciplined by his loyalty to Christ and a desire to please Him.”

Now you may ask, “Which part is he talking about?” The Word of God is very plain; “all” belongs to God. First, our talents belong to God. The whole reason we are given talents, gifts, and skills is for God’s use and the work of God through His Church. Romans 12:1 read,

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

To use our talents for service is the least we can do, the most reasonable things for us to do in our workplace.  Without this attitude of the ownership of our talents to God, we will never be effective in our Christian lives in reaching the lost.

This is Part one of a series of post I will be sharing on from Mr. Graves’ book.