Issue 212
This is part of a six-month series looking at the Sermon on the Mount from a workplace angle: enjoy the ride!
Have you noticed that human beings have an endless creativity when it comes to getting round rules, regulations and agreements? So, we agree to reduce carbon emissions but set up carbon trading. We’ll want nuclear non-proliferation unless we we are a big players already. Fair trade is vital unless it damages my market in which case I will find a way round. Labour laws improve working conditions so I’ll manufacture where labour laws are less developed.
We also do it on a smaller scale: We look for loopholes, exceptions and get-out clauses to benefit ourselves or our clients, colleagues, companies or associates.
If you purchase an item on offer you can be almost certain the headline price and the final payment are not the same. The phrase ‘terms and conditions apply’ will be in small print or fast talk at the end or bottom, so what you see is definitely not what you get. First century Jewish culture was no better or worse. By the time of Jesus an elaborate form of swearing by a variety of standards had come into the arena of deal-making and agreements, and numerous names or places were called to witness and bolster the agreement. One common get-out clause was whether you had actually used the name of God in your oath. If you had it was deemed binding, if not then you had options to wriggle out. So if you swear by Heaven, Earth or Jerusalem but don’t actually mention God you are ok to avoid your agreement. Thus evolved a system of sacred and non-sacred agreements.
Jesus would have none of this. Heaven, Earth and Jerusalem all belong to God as his throne, footstool or city. You can’t leave God out of agreements. You can’t pretend there is a non-divine involvement. You don’t need to evoke an oath to strengthen an agreement and you can’t leave God out to weaken it. When you say “yes” or “no” that is binding, God is already a witness and you are answerable to him.
In the Sermon on the Mount you have one of the most powerful illustrations of God being involved in work. Work is a place full of deals, agreements, contracts and arrangements. God is witness to them all. Saying “as God is my witness” makes no difference, and neither does not saying it.
If you are trying to work without involving God you are fooling yourself -it cannot be done. It makes no difference whether you believe in him, honour him or worship him, he is always involved. The challenge, if you are a believer, is to become conscious of this fact and be intentional and deliberate.
In this instance “yes” means doing what you say you will do and “no” means that you will not do something. When you say it this is a sacred moment. In this sense there is no such thing as a secular agreement and no such thing as secular work.
Matthew 5:33-37
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
In preparation for the next GEOFFSHATTOCKweekly, do feel free to email us your thoughts to wtw@worktalk.gs or leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter profile. You can also visit our YouTube channel - get inspired and share Worktalk's vision with others.
Work well
Geoff Shattock
© Copyright 2024 Geoff Shattock
All GEOFFSHATTOCKweekly archives are for personal use only. For permission to use for any other purposes please email using the address below thank you.
WORKTALK LEARNING
1 Washington Villas, Hythe Road, Marchwood, Southampton, Hampshire, SO40 4WT United Kingdom
T:+44 (0)23 8086 8543
http://www.geoffshattock.com
comms@worktalk.gs
