Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
Speaker: If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Speaker: Hey, welcome to Growing Grace. This is Victor Morrison, First Baptist Church in Columbus, Texas. I am so glad that you're listening today. i want to share a word that I hope will be encouraging for Labor Day.
Speaker: Proverbs chapter 20 has something really neat to say about how we conduct business. Proverbs 20 verses 12 down through about verse 19 is where we're going to be today.
Speaker: There's an Old Testament scholar named Bruce Waltke. He sees a common theme uniting Proverbs 20 verses 12 through 19. And the theme is speech and commerce.
Speaker: See, whether one is the merchant or the customer, the Bible actually offers wise counsel on how to effectively and uprightly do business.
Speaker: Christianity, chicken sandwiches, and good customer service. That was the winning combination for S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A.
Speaker: He grew up in poverty, and yet he eventually became a billionaire. One of Mr. Cathy's core values drove him to keep all Chick-fil-A restaurants closed on Sundays.
Speaker: It was a company policy that he steadfastly defended and justified. He once said about that conviction, "...it is proven to my interests financially, as well as convenience, of permitting our people to have Sunday off, where they can forget the business and other interests devoted to the family, as well as to worship, if they so choose." In 2006, Mr. Cathy told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I see no conflict whatsoever between Christianity and good business practices.
Speaker: People say you can't mix business with religion. I say there's no other way. I think you'll agree with Mr. Cathy as we study through Proverbs 20 verses 12 through 19. I believe it addresses some key issues for the believer when buying or selling.
Speaker: It does not cover, of course, all of the truths that touch on biblical ethics in the marketplace, but it certainly will help one build a career and business upon a solid foundation.
Speaker: There are many Christians who apply verses like these to their work in the business world each and every day, and I hope you will as well. Let me read through these verses. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.
Speaker: Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes and you will have plenty of bread. Bad, bad, says the buyer.
Speaker: But when he goes a well away, then he boasts. There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
Speaker: Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners. Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.
Speaker: Plans are established by counsel, by wise guidance, wage war. Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets. Therefore, do not associate with a simple babbler.
Speaker: Wow. I don't know if any of these things will touch base ah where you work and the kind of work that you do, but I do feel that ah Dr. Waltke was right, that some of these things will help us in the business world if we apply them.
Speaker: So let's begin. i would say first, when I read verse 12, I thought about the receptors that are used by the Lord to help us verify whether something is true or not, whether it's real or just virtual. To correct humanity's moral disability, the Lord created two receptive organs that informed the wise heart for good.
Speaker: That's what Bruce Waltke said. you know, if you think about it, observation is a good teacher. And I would say that listening helps one learn.
Speaker: You know, ah our actions and our conduct, they reveal our character. If you back up one verse from where we started in verse 12, listen to what the verse just before this one says in verse 11.
Speaker: Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright. the hearing ear and the seeing eye.
Speaker: The Lord has made them both. Do you see the connection between one's behavior and how it reveals what's going on deep within? It helps us to know if we can trust the one that's talking to us by what we hear and what we see.
Speaker: So let's move from the receptors that help us verify to verse 13, which reminds us of another very important biblical principle. that of human responsibility.
Speaker: You see, sleep is not a bad thing. Just like money, it's not evil, but they both have something in common when it comes to loving sleep and loving money.
Speaker: If we love money, then it says we're gonna be led to sorrow. What happens if one actually loves sleep? I'm not saying get getting the sleep that our body needs, but I'm saying where you're absolutely you know obsessed with sleep.
Speaker: He says in verse 13, "'Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes and you will have plenty of bread.'" You see, diligence requires one's eyes to be open, not closed.
Speaker: And so what can happen is if a man is lazy and is not motivated, then what's ahead for that man is going to be poverty or hunger.
Speaker: There's a lot of verses in Proverbs that actually refer to this. For example, Proverbs 10, verses 4 through 6, and of course, verse 26 in Proverbs 10 as well.
Speaker: Proverbs 12, 11, and then Proverbs Proverbs 14, 4, Proverbs 15, 19, Proverbs 18, 9, Proverbs 19, 15, and proverbs fifteen nineteen proverbs eighteen nine proverbs nineteen fifteen Proverbs 19, 24, and Proverbs 20, verse four.
Speaker: Why would I list all of those? For one reason. I want you to understand that diligence is really key to success in the business world. We have to say, Lord, make me motivated.
Speaker: Help me get up. Help me start every day with the the energy that you've given to me. Of course, I'm not saying there is no place for rest. There is a place for rest.
Speaker: But we do not want to over go overbalance on ah saying, hey, I need rest. Verse 14 introduces us to yet a third biblical principle that I think will help us in the business world.
Speaker: And I would call that principle deceptive haggling. Deceptive haggling. Listen to verse 14. Bad, bad, says the buyer. but when he goes away, then he boasts." You see, there's no question that haggling is a part of the market world.
Speaker: But what about for the one who wants to be known as a follower of God? If we insist a product is of inferior quality for the price that is asked by the merchant, why would we go away bragging about getting a good deal later?
Speaker: later You see, a buyer should be honest and not deceptive whenever he's haggling. It's okay to ask for a better price, but it's just we don't want to lie whenever we're doing that.
Speaker: You know, the seller should be honest in his claims about his product. As a matter of fact, five times in the Bible, it also speaks of how the seller should be very honest with the customer.
Speaker: Is he telling the truth to that customer? You can find verses like Leviticus 19, verses 35 37, Deuteronomy 25, verses 13 through 16, Ezekiel 45, 10, Amos 8, 5, and Micah 6, 10 through 16. All these refer the same thing, that ezekiel forty five ten amos eight five in micah six verses ten through sixteen all of these refer to the same thing that A trader should be honest in his transactions with his customers.
Speaker: So I think that helps us to be living by biblical principles, not living by the world's principles. I know that in the secular world, it's okay to exaggerate and to lie and to be deceptive.
Speaker: But whenever we're a Christian and we're at at work in the business world, I think it will really bring a new flavor to things if we add in there the salt of our convictions that we have in Christ.
Speaker: So, so far we've looked at this deceptive haggling. We've looked at human responsibility and these two receptors that are given to us for verification.
Speaker: But verse 15 speaks of valuable words, valuable words. Here's what it says again in that verse. There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are precious jewel, are a precious jewel.
Speaker: Those who buy and sell need to remember that some things are more valuable than other things in life. This proverb is a comparison of that which is good compared to that which is better.
Speaker: You see, wise words are more valuable than gold. Wise words are more valuable than rubies. And it's just interesting how he says more than lots of them. So I'm thinking, wow, I never really realized that the words that I speak, they can be more valuable than the product that I'm wanting to sell.
Speaker: See, this proverb is such a comparison of that which is good compared to that which is better. One cannot obtain this through sordid deals, only through deals that are spoken by a wise heart with a wise tongue.
Speaker: Let's go to another thing that's mentioned in verse 16. Verse 16 talks about imprudent cosigning, imprudent cosigning. you know ah Verse 16 says, take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners.
Speaker: Maybe you're like myself and you're thinking, wait, I thought we we weren't supposed to do that. Well, that's the whole point. He's simply saying, this is the TEV translation. It's kind of straightforward, so prepare yourself.
Speaker: Anyone stupid enough to promise to be responsible for a stranger's debt? ought to have his own property held to guarantee payment. You see what it's kind of saying?
Speaker: It's basically saying that to guarantee, to co-sign a loan for somebody that I don't even know, I don't know their character, I don't know if they repay what they owe and so forth, it's not a good practice.
Speaker: As a matter of fact, in Proverbs 11, 15, it says, if we do try to co-sign a loan for a stranger, he says, eventually we will suffer for it.
Speaker: Proverbs 17, 18 says that if we do something like that, even for a neighbor, then we're going to lack sense. Proverbs 22, verses 26 and 27 says, you need to be careful when you co-sign for someone else and you put up all of your possessions as collateral because you could lose your own bed.
Speaker: In Proverbs 6, verses 1 through 5, the The author compares ah giving out loans so freely without any discretion, without any qualifications, as similar to being caught in a snare.
Speaker: He encourages those who have done that already to get out while you can. You see, compassion is a good thing, but putting up security for a stranger The Bible would say, that's not a good thing.
Speaker: That's a foolish thing. We should be careful with this. You know, this proverb envisions the following, a debtor who is a stranger, a creditor who is also an outsider to the covenant community, and three, a guarantor who stands behind the stranger's debt.
Speaker: You know, sometimes I feel like we're said we're told, well, you should you should care about people. And I believe we should. The Bible tells us to love one another, to love others, even the stranger.
Speaker: But we got to be careful that we don't sort of swing the pendulum too far to where we're actually practicing what Allie Beth Stuckey wrote recently and called toxic empathy.
Speaker: It's where we ignore the truth and we ignore facts. You know, it's sort of like when you put the balance all on one side, all the weight is on one side of the scale and all of the truth and the facts on the other side are not even considered.
Speaker: For example, let's say abortion. Whenever people talk about the abortion debate, sometimes all the emphasis is on compassion for the woman who is pregnant.
Speaker: But what about compassion for the baby? That's where I think we begin to see the balance. You see what I'm saying? But if we say something with no no stipulations whatsoever, no investigation whatsoever, you don't really even know the facts on the other side, then it's just a scary thing.
Speaker: So anyway, I think that's another thing in business to be concerned about, to be careful with, would be imprudent cosigning. Let's move to something else.
Speaker: How about dishonest speech? Chapter 20, verse 17 says, It brings this up. It says, bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.
Speaker: You see, it was sweet when he was lying, but then it says later he's going to regret that because it's going to be like his mouth will be filled with gravel. You know, it's real easy to move from rash words in verse 16 to false speech in verse 17.
Speaker: This is referring to what could be described as a sweet deal. You tell someone, this is a sweet deal. You can't pass this up. And yet at the same time, you know you know that it's not a good deal.
Speaker: So it turns out that what you're going to do is you're going to be asking someone, even yourself, to swallow a bad deal because it will come back to bite us if we're not careful.
Speaker: There is a time lapse between the time of the transaction until the consequence. If one uses dishonest speech in his business, he may find that it has a bad aftertaste in the city later whenever people begin to say, you can't trust one thing that guy says.
Speaker: He's nothing but a slick salesman. You know, Job actually has something about that in Job 20, verses 12 through 29. When you have a chance, i would I would recommend that you check it out.
Speaker: But I would say dishonest speech is another thing that should we should be careful with if we're in business, where we overpromise things that we know are not true. Let's go to verse 18.
Speaker: Wise planning. I think most of the business people that i I know, they all plan and there's nothing wrong with planning. I think sensible people in business know the value of seeking wise counsel from those who are experienced in whatever field it is that they're in business.
Speaker: These men and women take counsel before they take action. That's why in verse 18, he says, plans are established by counsel, by wise guidance, wage war.
Speaker: So definitely there's a place for saying, I need to check with some of the people that I really respect that are in this field. You know, in Proverbs 15, 22, there's also a great cross-reference related to this same idea when it says, without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisors, they succeed.
Speaker: You see the difference? Counsel ignored leads to plans that fail. Counsel received leads to plans that succeed.
Speaker: So I want you to succeed in whatever business ah ah endeavor that you're a part of. So I would definitely encourage you to look to God's word and to say, how can I make my plans wise? But also talk with those who are more skilled or more experienced in the field you're entering.
Speaker: and try to learn from them. Say, this is what I'm thinking. What do you think about my plan? Let's go to the last one in verse 19. Avoid gossip. Avoid gossip. I don't know if they have a water cooler where you work, but if so, be careful when you talk with others around that water cooler. It can lead to very destructive things.
Speaker: Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets. Therefore, do not associate with a simple babbler. I like that word, babbler.
Speaker: But the the idea is that um a slanderer is someone who is not going to be trustworthy. And so if you tell them a secret, if you whisper something to them, they might repeat it.
Speaker: One reason one should avoid the gossip circle is because it could be your secrets that the group talks about next. Think about how important these days privacy is in the business world.
Speaker: Let's say that someone uses their credit card to pay for something that you're selling. Is it okay for you to sell their information to someone else?
Speaker: Is it okay for you to give others their ah their credit card number and all of those kind of things? You know, I think that it's essential that we respect privacy. I think confidentiality is crucial.
Speaker: Of course, in some circles, it may be more crucial than others. But all I know is that we have to learn to avoid unnecessary talk, especially if it's not even true, if it's slander or if it's just gossip. We don't know these things for a fact for sure.
Speaker: You know, Proverbs 26, 22, you know what it compares gossip to? Thank you. Tasty treats. So it's sometimes fun to share something that you know that's private about someone else.
Speaker: But is that something going to be beneficial or is it going to be destructive if you tell other people what you know? Wouldn't it be better to guard the confidentiality that that person confided in you? 1 Timothy 5.13 also pairs...
Speaker: also hairs um pairs this idea of gossip with laziness. It's interesting how 1 Timothy 5.13 says, laziness and gossip, they sort of go hand in hand.
Speaker: We should say, Lord, help me to do my work. Help me to stay in my lane. Help me to not share things that people have told me, especially when it's very private things, you know private things that you learned in the business world. you know I think that's definitely so an issue that's becoming more and more prevalent in our world because of hackers. And we don't know yet where all of ai is going to lead us as as a world, I mean, in our culture. So we have to be so careful
Speaker: that we're not going to unnecessarily compromise someone's um private information. So anyway, I just thought, you know, all of these things are so beneficial for those who are in the business world or in commerce. So if that's you, then I hope you'll consider, why did God give you your ears and your eyes? Why?
Speaker: I think he gave those to you to be receptors so that you can filter truth. So you can think about what you see. You can think about what you hear. And if you'll let it, then what you hear can help you to design a product that is going to be a perfect fit for those customers.
Speaker: If you use what you see, then maybe you're going to say, i don't like what I see. For example, my father worked in a factory, and one time he was asked to become quality control manager. So he loved it, and he had to study a long time just to ah be qualified to become the quality ah manager.
Speaker: But after he did, his supervisor asked him to just sort of meet the quota without being concerned about the quality. But my dad knew these things are going to be brakes in people's automobiles. And so my father, I respected him so highly.
Speaker: He said, if I can't do my job, then make sure that you put me back on the assembly line so that I can make sure the ah brake assembly is assembled correctly. That's the idea.
Speaker: So when your eye tells you the information, something's not right. Another man that I discipled a long time ago was asked by his accounting firm. They worked for a very large corporation and they had, I don't know, maybe 15 or so accountants. And so the chief accountant, he said to the others, we're going to have to cook the book on the books on these things. And he said, I went to him privately afterward and I told him, I can't do that.
Speaker: When he said, why? He said, because I'm following Jesus Christ now and he's helping me to become a man of integrity, a man of truth. You see, what he saw with his eyes, what he heard with his ears didn't match the best thing for that company. He felt the best thing for the company is to be true to the world to the ah to the consumer.
Speaker: So that's what he did. But then the human responsibility. You know, I've had actually some who are in business who ah are maybe in management.
Speaker: I had ah a person who was a manager for a nursing home. He told me, you know, he said, we're having so much trouble with people these days because they don't come into work. He said they sign up for they're going to be here every weekday and so forth.
Speaker: But he said they don't show up. And then when we do try to help them learn something they're not doing that they had agreed to do, they get really angry. And there's a lot of drama in the workplace. And so it's like, wait a minute.
Speaker: You mean, why were they not coming in? I asked him. He said, well, they said I was tired. I was up late last night, so I just didn't feel like coming in. So those kind of things, we need to take responsibility seriously.
Speaker: I mean, if you if you have a job, why don't you give it everything you've got and try to say, help me, Lord, to be the best employee that I can. I would say another thing would be that deceptive haggling. You don't wanna do something like that to where you're trying to sell a product, but you exaggerate, you actually lie in order for your product to sell.
Speaker: Or let's say you're the consumer, you're wanting to buy something, but in order to buy something, you just totally rip it to shreds and you make the man feel terrible that's trying to sell it to you. But then you should say, wait a minute,
Speaker: If he gives me a better deal, am I going to go away really bragging? Man, I got the best whatever that product was for next to nothing. Is that going to be true?
Speaker: I mean, are you being a person of integrity? You know what integrity means, right? It means that you're doing ah you're living out ah exactly what you believe on the inside. It's the same every day of the week.
Speaker: That's not being the same. It's not having consistency. So we need to say, God, help me not not be a part of any deceptive haggling and help me use valuable words.
Speaker: Because in this passage, we saw when it compares to gold or rubies, you know how much gold and or rubies are worth? Well, God says, if you use wise words that impart knowledge, that help others, those words are so valuable because they might make a big difference in someone's career, maybe in someone's marriage, maybe in someone's future if they're a young person.
Speaker: Another thing we sometimes can do, we can feel sorry for people and we can say, well, I want them to get ahead. i think I will co-sign a loan for them. And let's say we don't even know them, but we just feel sorry for them.
Speaker: Well, we need to be careful with co-signing loans. because it could cost us our bed. There's so many things that could happen that go sideways on us.
Speaker: Why don't you try to find out something about a person before you would agree to co-sign? It might be better to not even enter into that whole world of co-signing.
Speaker: Just like dishonest speech. You know, if you're a salesman, if you really want to give people the sweetest deal, why don't you give them a true deal? Tell them exactly the truth about your product.
Speaker: Sell the products you believe in. And when you tell them something, I wonder if they'll say, you know what? He told me he told me that this is the best car for my money. I went in to buy a car one time, and ah I told the man i wanted to have a car large enough so that I could take my adult children with me and their spouses whenever we travel.
Speaker: So he said, how often are you talking about? I said, once a year. Once a year, we'll travel from Texas to Tennessee. That man had the the honesty to tell me, sir,
Speaker: you're gonna be paying a lot of extra gas mileage all through the year for just one week. Wouldn't you rather just rent a car when you're going out of state like that for that one week?
Speaker: And then you can save and not not have to ah spend so much money on the car. I really appreciated that guy saying that to me. And i actually went back and talked to him when it was time to buy another car.
Speaker: So I think if we use honest speech in our sales pitch, I think that'll be a winning plan for us. And then when you're making your plans, wouldn't it be great to ask those who are experienced, those who are experts in the field that you're ah you're currently serving in to say, what do you think? Here's what I'm planning to do.
Speaker: I would like some input. Could you give me some of your advice, some of your counsel? Because the Bible is clear. Counsel ignored leads to plans that fail.
Speaker: Counsel received leads to plans that succeed. And then last but not least maybe would be the problem of talking too much, especially if it's slander, it's gossip.
Speaker: We don't even know these things to be true. Sometimes people willfully lie and other times they just don't know if they've got all the facts or not. Wouldn't it be better to say in the business world, help me talk about my product, help me get to know a person and then be respectful enough to not go around spreading every little detail that I know about their lives.
Speaker: Well, I hope this has been a helpful thing. I really mean that from my heart. I wanna be sincere with those who listen to Growing in Grace. And I sincerely believe that Proverbs 12,
Speaker: ah Proverbs 20, verses 12 through 17. It's going to be a blessing to you. So I hope that you'll study it and apply it. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for those who are listening today. I pray that you encourage them. I pray that maybe you directed them.
Speaker: Maybe they were starting to go down a path that was going to hurt their business rather than help their business. Lord, I pray for all those who listen. I want their businesses to thrive and to do well.
Speaker: And I pray that they would honor you ah with their business by good biblical business practices. So bless them, O Lord. Thank you again for this time we shared together.
Speaker: In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks again for listening to Growing in Grace. Have a great day.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
