How does the incarnation impact us as businessmen?

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." -- John 1:14

In one week we will be celebrating this glorious event of the Word becoming flesh. The scandalous incarnation of YHWH, God himself, into the person of Jesus. The question I want to ask this week is this: What implications does the incarnation have on the way we do business?

The incarnation challenges us to rethink who God is and what he is like. Does God sit far away on his throne, indifferent to the cries of the poor and oppressed? Jesus tells us no. In fact, in Jesus we see that God identifies himself with the poor and oppressed in a way the religious people of his day found hard to deal with. I suspect we find it hard to deal with as well.

A verse we discussed last week (Jeremiah 22:13-17) indicated that judging the cause of the poor and needy was to know God.

Paul tells of Jesus' choice to step off the throne of God and into darkness in Philippians 2: "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men."

How much does Jesus' example conflict with our pursuits in business! We are taught (and we may even teach others) to achieve, to work hard, to do well, to "succeed." And we may even quote Scripture along the way to justify our ambitions. But Jesus was different: sitting at God's right hand, he did not aspire for a promotion; he put on skin to hang out with sinners and morons like you and me.

If we do nothing else this week, let's reflect on that amazing Truth.

But we can (and should) also ask how Jesus' sacrificial humility translates to business. If you read the story in Luke 3 where John the Baptist is proclaiming the good news of Jesus' coming, you see his shocking words to the people who came to be baptized:

"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

"What should we do then?" the crowd asked.

John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"

"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"

He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." (Luke 3: 7-14)

Share your abundance with the needy, don't extort money, be content with your pay.

This was said by the one who was preparing the way for the Lord and it seems consistent with Jesus' heart as he prepared to come to earth as a baby. He was content with his current position and sought not advancement but service. He cared so much about the poor and helpless that he did one of the craziest, most selfless things imaginable. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

When Jesus was asked the same question posed to John, Jesus' reply is much harsher than John's: "Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Luke 18:22)

It's clear that our reward is in heaven, but do we live that way? Jesus did. Jesus moves beyond morality to a new ethic: total and complete surrender of the self for the glory of God. Or, as the pastor of a church in Houston would call it: waving the white flag of victory.

During Christmas, how might we prepare the way for the Lord? What are the ambitions of your heart you need to put aside to make way for a King that demands sacrificial service? What are the things or circumstances with which you should be content? What are the ways you can sacrifice your own desires, pride, and ambition for someone else?

Jesus' incarnation should affect every aspect of our lives. What does it demand from you?

Note: there will not be a post next week. Have an awe-filled, thought-provoking, and merry Christmas.

Do we disobey God with some of our everyday purchases?

I learned two things this week:

1) Starbucks, despite professing to be a values-based company (and in many ways they are and should be commended), sells only one blend of coffee that is Fair Trade certified -- "Cafe Estima" -- and it is rarely the blend of the day. In other words, it's probably safe to say that 95% or higher of the cups of coffee sold in Starbucks are not Fair Trade.

2) Many people assume Starbucks sells all Fair Trade coffee.

The inconsistent application of "values" drives me nuts, but that's not what I want to talk about. Last week we talked about obeying God in the things we don't buy -- this week, I got to thinking about obedience in terms of what we do buy, products we buy regularly that, in and of themselves are not unGodly, but can be unGodly in certain contexts. In other words, coffee is not an unGodly product but I would argue that coffee that does not meet or exceed Fair Trade requirements is unGodly (and yes, I absolutely think it is our role to call this out).

The difference between this week and the question a couple of weeks ago is the focus is not on the company, it's on us. I am not asking about the impact we could have on Starbucks by drinking Fair Trade coffee -- instead, I am asking us to look at our purchasing decisions from the perspective of personal responsibility and obedience.

We've talked about Fair trade before on this blog, but what does it mean? You can learn more about fair trade by clicking on the "Make Trade Fair" link on the right side of this page, but I'll summarize:

Fair Trade does not just apply to coffee but that is the most common association so I'll use that as the example. Essentially, coffee retailers in developed countries have realized that they can get coffee beans and incredibly cheap prices from countries in Latin America, Africa, etc. and, being the capitalists that we are, we bid the prices down as low as we can. The irony, of course, is that coffee is sold for $4 a cup in America while coffee farmers in Third World countries are languishing in poverty because the market dictates what they get paid -- and it's not enough to live on. And really, no one can fault companies like Kraft, Nestle, or Starbucks for taking advantage. They seek to obey market forces, not the commands of God, so there is no reason not to seek profit regardless of consequence. The problem for us is, the Bible directly calls us to care for the poor:

• "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages...Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD. But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence." -- Jeremiah 22:13-17
• "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." -- Proverbs 31:8-9 (these are but 2 of 2000-3000 verses about the poor)

Not only are these verses saying that caring for the poor is obedience to God, Jeremiah says it is to know Him. In Matthew 22:35-40, Jesus says the greatest commandment is "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" followed by "love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." So all of our actions should revolve around the call to love God and love others. And God clearly has a heart for the poor. But is it fair to make the leap to say we can/should love our neighbors and defend the rights of the poor and needy through our purchases? Consider these quotes:

• "I'd like to tell people in your place that the drink they are enjoying is the cause of all our problems. We grow it with our sweat and sell it for nothing." -- Lawrence Seguya, Uganda.
• "The coffee farmers of Latin America are suffering the worst crisis in a hundred years. I urge everyone concerned with this growing misery to read this report. I hope you will use it to promote action to stop the scandal of hard-working coffee farmers falling further into poverty because of the price which the transnationals pay." -- Raul del Aguila, Junta Nacional del Cafe de Peru (Peruvian Coffee Farmers' Organisation).
• "If a few companies were less greedy, the people at the bottom would have a lot more. We can do our bit by pressuring politicians to change this insanity, and by buying Fair Trade coffee."-- Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay

The bottom line is this: non-Fair Trade coffee promotes poverty, Fair Trade coffee fights it.

So then the question is: Do we have a call to examine our purchases to understand the ramifications in light of "God's economy?"

Obviously I think the answer is "Yes," so I've decided to make it a personal goal to never consume another cup of coffee that is not Fair Trade certified. This will be difficult in the sense that Fair Trade coffee can be scarce, but I've gone most of my life not drinking coffee at all so I think it's doable. I started this last week and it was cool to talk with the Starbucks cashier about my interest in Fair Trade. Next time, I hope to have a verse memorized to share the source of my motivation.

But I want to reiterate what I said above. This is not about sticking it to the man -- I didn't boycott coffee altogether -- it's about obedience. If I'm going to drink coffee, I don't know how I buy stuff that exploits the poor.

I wonder, then, how this applies to other products, products that we all buy that aren’t unGodly in and of themselves but could be. Products like cars (e.g., energy efficient), houses (e.g., sustainable design), clothes (e.g., fighting child labor), and food (e.g., caring not just about how much I pay but how much the farmer gets paid). I know we have engineers, lawyers, doctors, consultants, and others out there who could shed light on the negative effects certain products have on the poor, the environment, etc. and the alternatives available to us.

So what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment that Fair Trade is the only way to drink coffee in light of the call to love God and love our neighbors? If so, how far can/should this logic (examining all of our purchases and the impact they have on others) be extended?

Is simplicity Godly? How do we do it?

Seems like last week's topic hit a bit of a nerve. Good -- that's exactly the kind of dialogue we're hoping to see. We need these diverse perspectives to challenge and refine our collective search for truth. If you haven't read the comments from last week, take a minute to do so. There are some interesting perspectives on all sides of the discussion about consumerism. Because it seems to be a bit of a raw topic, we hope to dedicate at least a few more weeks to the issues related to our role as consumers.

Last week we touched on questions of affecting change, personal money management, and obedience but those are topics for other weeks. I hope we can focus strictly on one side of this discussion this week: simplicity.

In the context of Godly behavior, there seem to be two antonyms of simplicity: accumulation and extravagance:

• Accumulation -- Exodus 16 records the amazing story of God providing manna (bread) from heaven. There are so many elements of this story that reveal pieces of God's character, but a particularly compelling lesson resides in the condition that if anyone gathered more than one day's worth of bread, it would spoil (v. 19-21). God specifically said He was testing their obedience (v. 4). It was a system by which God required the Israelites to trust Him daily for provision. Each day, every family had more than enough, but God destroyed the excess. Each day was a new test of trust. Our pastor said recently he hoped we would be a people who didn't have storage units; that we wouldn't have so much crap (that we don't even use) that we can't even fit it in our house and garage so we pay to store it somewhere else.
• Extravagance -- Tonight, I went to dinner with some people from work. When I arrived, they were discussing the home theaters in their houses and debated the merits of a $3000 HD projector versus a mere 60" plasma TV. I sat there thinking about what I could say but just about everything that came to mind was arrogant and judgmental, so I kept my mouth shut and came home frustrated. My silence indicated my approval at worst and my indifference at best to extravagant self-centered consumption. I shared my frustration with The Dude and he suggested that I could have countered with a statement as simple as, "Isn't the abundance we enjoy in America amazing?" Maybe that leads to conversation about the distribution of wealth across the world. Maybe that leads nowhere. But it's better than silence, right?

So my questions this week are these:

1) Do you accumulate excess at the expense of trusting God's provision?
2) What luxuries do you own that would make you ashamed if a poor villager from Africa came to your house?
3) What can we do today, in our current situations, about accumulation and extravagance? Is it just modeling it ourselves? What steps will you take? Is it speaking out in the name of simplicity? How can we actually do that in a way that is both effective and filled with grace and truth?