Thinking in Christ — Issue 29: Work Done for the Lord, Not for Men

And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Col 3:23-24)

The age has a counsel for the workplace, and it sounds like competence. Analyze the problem, break it into parts, and find its root cause. Generate innovative solutions, and think outside the box. Gather information, weigh risks against benefits, and make the informed decision. Communicate clearly, listen actively, and support your arguments with evidence. Adapt to change, collaborate well, keep learning, and decide ethically. On this telling, the good worker is the worker well equipped, and the workplace rewards the mind that manages itself best.

Therefore this issue must ask who the work is actually for. The counsel assumes a worker who belongs to himself, improving his own performance for his own advancement and for the success of his organization. But if the mind is a slave to sin or to God (Rom 6, paraphrased), then the worker never belongs to himself, and the question is never whether he will serve. The question is only whom he serves. A man can sharpen every workplace skill the age offers and still serve the wrong master with a sharper edge. The trouble in the workplace is not only inefficiency. It is service rendered to men, to reputation, to security, or to the organization itself, as though any of these could bear the weight of being Lord.

Consider first the anchor, and what it renames. And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Col 3:23-24) The work is not renamed by its importance. Whatever you do carries the same command, whether the task is large or small, seen or unseen. The heartiness is not enthusiasm manufactured for a supervisor. The reward does not come from the organization. It is an inheritance, which no performance review can grant and no restructuring can take away. A man who knows this works differently when no one is watching, because the one he serves is always watching, and the one he serves is not a man.

Because of this, the first workplace skill must be told the truth about itself. Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. (Col 3:22) Obedience to an earthly master is commanded, and the command is real. Yet the command has a boundary built into it. The obedience is not eye-service. It is not performed for the look. The age teaches the worker to manage his visibility, to make sure his diligence is noticed, his contribution credited, and his effort rewarded. Scripture forbids the performance. Singleness of heart means the work is the same when the door is open and when it is shut, because the fear of God does not change with the audience. A man who works only when he is seen has not learned diligence. He has learned theater, and theater is a form of lying.

Likewise, analysis and problem-solving must be put in their order. Breaking a problem into parts, finding its causes, and weighing solutions are useful acts of stewardship. A mind renewed by the Word does this work carefully, and it does not despise careful thought. Yet no mind is neutral (Rom 12:2, paraphrased). A mind conformed to the world analyzes in order to control the outcome, to protect itself, and to secure the result it wants. A mind renewed by the Word analyzes in order to know what is true and what is commanded, and then it leaves the outcome to God. The difference shows when the analysis is complete and the answer is unwelcome. The renewed mind obeys the answer it was given, even when it costs him the promotion, the project, or the praise. Every thought must be taken captive to obey Christ (2 Cor 10:5, paraphrased), including the thought that a well-analyzed decision is therefore a right one. A decision can be thorough, innovative, and well documented, and still be disobedience dressed in competence.

For this reason, risk and benefit must also be weighed on a different scale. The age teaches the worker to weigh short-term and long-term effects, financial impact, and consequences for stakeholders, and then to choose the course that maximizes benefit and minimizes risk. Scripture does not forbid counting consequences. But consequences are not the judge. God's command settles the question, and the command stands whether the outcome looks profitable or ruinous. A man who will only do right when the risk is low has not chosen righteousness. He has chosen safety, and he has called it wisdom. But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality. (Col 3:25) That verse is the warning that keeps the whole workplace ethic honest. No title, no tenure, and no record of past performance bends it.

At the same time, communication and collaboration must be renamed by the same Lord. The age teaches the worker to articulate ideas clearly, support arguments with evidence, listen actively, respect diverse perspectives, and reconcile differences into consensus. Much of this is useful. A man should speak plainly, listen before he answers, and not despise the counsel of others. Yet evidence is corroboration, never the foundation of faith (1 John 5:9-10, paraphrased), and it is not the foundation of workplace truth either. A consensus built on evidence can still be a room full of men agreeing on a lie. Collaboration in Christ is not the pooling of autonomous minds until a shared decision emerges. It is men and women under one Lord, each speaking truthfully, each willing to be corrected, each refusing to flatter a colleague into error for the sake of harmony. The unity of a team is not the product of its process. It is the gift of a shared submission, and where that submission is absent, no process can manufacture it.

Here, then, change and continuous learning must be faced as well. The age tells the worker to embrace change, anticipate challenges, and keep improving, as though adaptability were itself a virtue and growth were its own reward. But change is not a master to be embraced. It is a circumstance under a sovereign God, and the worker's task is not to adapt to whatever comes but to stand where the Word stands while everything around him moves. Likewise, learning is not self-improvement measured by new skills acquired. Every new skill is judged by whether it serves the knowledge of what God commands and who Christ is, or replaces it. Growth that never arrives at Christ is not growth. It is accumulation, and accumulation is not wisdom.

This is where the age's final counsel must be refused outright. It says: balance ethical principles, organizational values, and legal obligations, and decide with integrity for the good of the organization. But integrity is not a balance, and the organization is not the judge. God's command is not one weight among others on the scale. It is the scale. A decision that serves the organization while breaking God's command is not ethical, whatever the policy manual says. And a decision that obeys God's command while costing the organization is not disloyalty, whatever the review says. The worker who belongs to Christ does not serve two masters and weigh them against each other. He serves one, and he serves the other only insofar as the one commands it.

This is where the testimony reaches its center, and the center holds both sides of the desk. Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. (Col 4:1) The master is not exempt from the ethic. He is judged by it, because he too has a Master, and his authority is borrowed. The worker is not exempt either, because his obedience is rendered to the Lord Christ, not to the man who signs his pay. Apart from Christ, the understanding is darkened (Eph 4:18, paraphrased), and the workplace becomes a theater of eye-service on one side and exploitation on the other, each side managing the other for its own gain. In Christ, the same workplace becomes a place of service rendered to a Lord who sees in secret, judged by a Lord who shows no partiality, and rewarded by a Lord who gives an inheritance no employer can offer.

So let the final word reverse the age's counsel. Do not equip yourself, manage your visibility, weigh your risks, and balance your ethics until the workplace rewards you. Begin where the anchor begins. And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Col 3:23-24) Work the same when you are seen and when you are not, because the Lord is not a supervisor who leaves the room. Speak truthfully, because consensus is not truth. Obey the command when the outcome is costly, because the command is not a suggestion. And refuse the organization as your master, because you already have one, and He is in heaven.

And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men. (Col 3:23) The work is not yours to own. It is His to receive.