This week's episode, Four Qualities of a Christ-Centered Business. Welcome to the first episode of Theology of Business, the show that helps marketplace leaders to integrate their faith into their businesses to make a greater impact on society and an eternity. If you want to learn more about how to partner with God in your business, this show is for you. This is a podcast by Christian business leaders for Christian business leaders. I'm your host, Darren Shear, author of the book Marketing Like Jesus, and founder of Hybridge Books. Hybridge Books offers professional book publishing services for inspiring thought leaders. If you're interested in publishing a book to spread your ideas, I have two free author webinar training videos that I want to share with you. One is titled How to Write a Great Nonfiction Book, and the other is 12 Ways to Sell More Books. You can get the links to view both of these videos by requesting them at hybridgebooks.com. Before we get into the topic for today, I want to address the question why the Theology of Business podcast? Why did I start this podcast? As I attended business school and seminary and then started running my own company, I noticed that there was a great chasm between business and theology. There was a sort of a separation between the business world and the church world, the for-profit and the nonprofit world. Yet more than 90% of employed Christians work in a for-profit company. Yet many of them have a misguided perception that God just isn't interested in or isn't relevant to their business. Or worse yet, some people actually think that God doesn't even like business, that he's somehow against making money. And that's because their worldview concerning business has been shaped primarily by either non-Christian business gurus or by Christian leaders who don't work in for-profit companies. These are well-meaning Christian leaders, they just don't have business for-profit experience. The non-Christian business gurus lead them to believe that God either doesn't exist at all or he just isn't relevant to their business. And many of the Christian leaders who are teaching them often have little or no experience leading a for-profit company. So one of the primary goals for this podcast is to help you define, to help you to articulate and wrestle with some of these topics related to the theology of business. In other words, what is the biblical purpose of business? And how are we to conduct business in a way that glorifies God? What does the Bible say about money? What does the Bible say about leadership and marketing and human resources and success and other business-related topics? And also, how can we partner with God in our businesses? These are just some of the questions that we're going to be wrestling with on this podcast. Again, this is a podcast by Christian business leaders for Christian business leaders. Each episode of the Theology of Business podcast will be either a teaching or an interview focused on a specific topic related to the integration of faith and business to help you articulate, help you to define your own personal theology of business in light of what the Bible says, and also in light of some of the interpretations of what the Bible says that you're going to hear about from the guests that we have on this podcast. I'd love for you to contact me on Twitter at Darren Shear or through the theology of business.com website to let me know what are some of the topics that you'd like to hear discussed on this podcast. So without further ado, let's go ahead and get into the topic for today. I wanted to start this podcast off with an episode that I felt would serve as sort of a foundation for the episodes that will follow. So today we're going to talk about four qualities of a Christ-centered business. Should businesses be Christ-centered? Or is that a calling that's reserved for your local church or for individual Christians on sort of a personal basis that we would be Christ-centered people? Should businesses be Christ-centered? Most Christian business professionals are employed within what I'll call Babylonian organizational structures. Now, unlike Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who literally found themselves in a Babylon situation, they, these Christians in Babylonian businesses that are either hostile toward or resistant or just don't appreciate or don't encourage the free expression of worship, you know, those people might not be thrown into a lion's den like Daniel or into a fiery furnace like Shadrach, Meshach, and Amenigo. However, the corporate cultures in which these Christians perform their jobs in the marketplace today usually discourage any public expressions of their Christian faith. Yet these people can still make an impact for Christ from within these organizations. But for those of us that live in a free society and are called and gifted to be entrepreneurs and business leaders, how much more do we have opportunities to shape the culture of our businesses in which we work? We can dedicate our businesses to God and submit them to his purposes and strategies with whatever influence we have, whether as the owner of that business or as a CEO or as a leader. And leadership, by the way, is 360 degrees. You don't have to be at the tip top of the heap in order to make an impact for Christ in your business. You can do it at all levels of the organization. But uh but today we're talking about can a business as a whole have a Christ-centered culture? Can it be a Christ-centered business? So before I talk about what a Christ-centered business is, I need to share what it is not. First of all, it's not about only hiring Christians in your company. First of all, refusing to hire anyone except a Christian is illegal, at least in the United States it is. And not only is it illegal, such a practice would actually prevent a business from fulfilling a key part of its redemptive purpose, which is, as we're called to be salt and light among unbelievers in the workplace, in the marketplace. And if you want to be Christ-led, look at what Jesus did. Jesus spent a significant portion of his time with unbelievers. So if we're not working with unbelievers, our business probably isn't being Christ-centered. And also, it's not about being a Christ-centered business, it's not about being churchy. It's not about packing your employees into the conference room, playing worship music, and bringing in your pastor to preach a sermon to them. It's not about transplanting your local church service model into a business setting. It's also not necessarily about being financially prosperous. If we define prosperity only in terms of money and influence, it's not enough to say Christ-centered businesses prosper more than businesses led by non-Christians, because we know that many businesses that are being led by non-Christians are on the Fortune 500 list, the Inc. 500, and other lists of the most successful companies in the world. Jesus explains this phenomenon by saying that God causes his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. That's in Matthew chapter 5, verse 45. Being a Christ-centered business is also, it's not just about applying timeless principles of business. The Bible is full of practical business wisdom, which we're going to be talking about on this podcast at length. But it's the Bible is full of practical business wisdom that has proven effective in the marketplace since the beginning of economics. There's no question about that. Christians and non-Christians alike can apply the Bible's timeless business principles and experience the benefits. Therefore, it's possible to take the business principles from the Bible and leave God out of your business because God is a person. God is not merely a set of timeless principles. So if there's more to being a Christ-centered business than hiring Christians only or churchiness in your company or financial prosperity or even the application of timeless principles and timeless wisdom, what are the qualities by which a Christi a Christ-centered business can be recognized? So on today's podcast, I want to share four of these indispensable qualities. Number one is that eternal return on investment or EROI. We've heard about financial return on investment or lately social return on investment, S-ROI. But for a Christ-centered business, eternal return on investment is the bottom line. The bottom line for a Christ-centered business is not merely financial, social, environmental, or anything else that is just temporary. The bottom line for a Christ-centered business is eternal. So if it doesn't last in eternity, it's not the bottom line. First Corinthians 3, chapter 3, verse 13 through 15 says, Each man's work will become evident for the day, talking about the judgment day, will show it because it is to be revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire. And so everything that we do in business will be tested. And if it doesn't have eternal value, it's not going to last in eternity. And it's not adding to helping your business to become a Christ-centered business. So eternal return on investment is the bottom line for a Christ-centered business. It's not financial, it's not social, it's eternal. And number two, a Christ-centered business makes disciples of Jesus. And this might sound a little bit intimidating. It might even sound illegal, especially if you work on a in an HR department. But I believe the ultimate purpose for a Christ-centered business is the same as it is for a Christian individual. What is that? To make disciples of all nations. That is the great commission. And it applies not only to your local church, but as a business leader, this is your calling. And if especially if you're an entrepreneur, then that is the purpose of your business ultimately. Making disciples of Jesus in a business setting, it may sound more complicated than it is. And the Apostle Paul, I love the way he described what discipleship is. He simplified it with this imitation. He said in 1 Corinthians 11, 1, imitate me as I imitate Christ. So it's actually kind of simple. Do the business practices of your company reflect the character of Jesus Christ? In other words, does your company treat your employees, customers, clients, and other stakeholders as Jesus would? And have you invited others to follow your example? It's not it's not enough to just do it, but actually invite people to follow your example. That's what disciple making is. I mean, I know we love this quote by Saint Francis of Assisi, uh, you know, share the gospel always, and if necessary, use words. Uh using words is is necessary because that's where and anytime somebody became a follower of Jesus, it came from an invitation. Jesus said, follow me if you want to be my disciple. And so if you're making disciples, that is followers of Jesus, then you're that's that's part of being a Christ-centered business. And then number three, the third quality of a Christ-centered business is that it's led and empowered by the Spirit of God. If a company is in business to fulfill the mission of God, it only makes sense that the company would be led by God Himself. He leads us through uh through his presence, he leads us through the voice of his Holy Spirit in our lives. As an example, when leading the children of Israel toward the promised land, Moses said to God, If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. This is in Exodus chapter 33. Why? Because he didn't want to move anywhere unless he was following God. The presence of God was paramount. Because if you want to be a Christ-centered business, if you want to have a Christ-centered business, then being led and empowered by the Spirit of God through his presence, through his voice in your life is absolutely essential. When I first started out as an entrepreneur, I hired a web developer without first praying about whether or not he was the right choice. And to make a long story short, I ended up losing $5,000 on account of this person and had nothing to show for it. That's not to say that if if you lose money uh on somebody on account of somebody that you weren't being spirit-led, because I mean, look what uh hiring, you know, allowing Judas to become part of his inner circle cost Jesus his life. And so that's not necessarily, I mean, God can use all different circumstances, but but in my case, I did not pray, I did not seek God's voice about whether or not I needed to partner with this guy. And asking God first would have prevented the loss of six months of my life, five thousand dollars, and my peace of mind during that frustrating season of my life. And the last quality that I want to share, and there are more, and I would love to hear some of your thoughts on what are the qualities of a Christ-centered business, is that it its leadership chooses to be accountable to godly advisors. The Bible says where there is no guidance, the people fall, but an abundance of counselors, there is victory. There are many thought leaders in and around my industry, which is the publishing industry and marketing, that I respect for the advice that they share, but the problem is that many of them don't know God. And so a diet of business advice and guidance fed primarily from non-Christian thinkers and gurus will inadvertently condition a person to believe that God just isn't relevant to his or her business. Larry Burkett, in his classic book, Business by the Book, he said the difficulty isn't the advice they give, it's the advice they don't give, specifically the lack of spiritual insight. So it's not like they're saying, keep God out of your business, God has no place in your business. It's just the absence of mentioning God or giving, you know, even um even uh applying biblical principles, I mean, we can kind of pat ourselves on the back for how we kind of covertly apply biblical principles, but at some point people need to know the source of these biblical principles. Because if we don't give God the glory, then uh then what's the what's the point? I mean, we can pat ourselves on the back and say, you know, look how you know I can apply the Bible and and nobody knows that it's the Bible. I mean, people need to know when when when they have an opportunity to give God glory for something. And over the past several years, I benefited from the business wisdom of Christian thought leaders like Dave Ramsey and Dan Miller, Michael Hyatt, John Maxwell, and others. And at the same time, I must admit that a large percentage of the business books I've read and business podcasts that I've listened to were presented by non-Christian thought leaders. So, in your company, make sure that you're giving priority to the voice of counsel from those who share your Christian values, who share your Christian worldview. In closing, I want to leave you with a question. I would love to hear your feedback, your responses to this particular question on this episode at theology of business.com. The question is, what are some other qualities of Christ-centered businesses? Maybe you're a Christian leader and you could provide some insight about how you're partnering with God in your business. What could you share with the Theology of Business community that could help help us to partner with God more and more in our businesses? Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to glorify you through our businesses. I pray that you would help us to honor you with everything that we do, God, through every way in which we come and contact people in business, God, through our interactions with customers, through our interactions with employees and coworkers and shareholders and everybody, God, that we would bring bring glory to your name. God, that we would use business as an opportunity to uh to pursue eternal return on investment. God, to bring uh to be faithful stewards of everything that you've entrusted to us, so that when we stand before you one day, God, we'll hear, well done, good and faithful servant, God, that we would even hear that on a daily basis. Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I will entrust you with many things. God, I pray that for every person listening to this podcast, that business would be our ministry, that we would truly put you at the center of our businesses, that we wouldn't just put principles at the center, we wouldn't just put prosperity at the center, God, that we would truly put Jesus, that we would put you at the center of our business. In Jesus' name, amen. That's all for this week. If there's a topic you'd like to hear discussed on the Theology of Business podcast, feel free to reach out to me personally on Twitter at Darren Cheer or through theologyofbusiness.com. There's a contact form there. I'd love to hear your feedback, and I would especially love to hear a testimony of what God is doing in your business. If this episode has impacted you in some way, I would love for you to leave a review on iTunes. Those reviews mean so much to the success of this podcast and helping other people to find it. Have a great week. Thanks for listening and keep doing great things for God and with God in the marketplace.