It
seems like every few years Americans are hit with a new epidemic of corporate
scandal when greedy CEOs are exposed for white collar crime. Enron, Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac, Waste Management, Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madeoff—need I say
more? In the wake of these startling revelations thousands of innocent and
unknowing workers are left without jobs, benefits, severance or retirement.
It’s a crying shame.
Then
we also hear about the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. Fortune magazine reported that in 2013
that the average CEO earns 331 times more than the average worker in their
company, with the CEO netting on average $11.7 million while workers take home
on average $35,000. That same article went on to explain that most workers in
these corporations cannot afford most of the services their company provides,
“America’s CEOs—as exemplified by the individuals of these companies—are
cannibalizing their own consumer base.”[1]
These
thoughts came to my mind as I was studying Paul’s council to salves and masters
in Ephesians 6:5-9, “5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and
trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of
eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will
of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and
not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back
from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same
to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and
yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.”
In
Paul’s day, slave owning was commonplace. The closest estimates by historians
put the number of slaves in the Roman Empire in the range of sixty million—or
about half the population. Salves were the largest demographic within the early
church and slaves are addressed in seven of the New Testament epistles.[2] Of course, these institutions
no longer exist today, but the relationship between bosses and employees do.
As
I read these verses, it dawned on me that although this passage may be short, it
has far reaching implications. I would submit to you that if these principles of
workplace ethics were in practice then much of horrible labor conditions of the
Industrial Revolution, the vast wage inequities between big business and its workers,
union labor strikes and the atrocities of communism could have been
avoided.
Then
I came across the fascinating biography of John Cadbury who actually put these
ideals into practice. In 1824 Cadbury opened his first coffee and tea shop in Birmingham,
England. He also began experimenting with a new sideline - cocoa and drinking
chocolate, which he prepared using a mortar and pestle.
The
popularity and growing sales of John Cadbury's cocoa and drinking chocolate of
'superior quality' determined the future direction of the business. So he
decided to open a full-blown chocolate factory. While working conditions at
that time in England during the height of the Industrial Revolution were
terrible and inhumane, Cadbury was driven by a different set of principles that
put people ahead of profits.
Cadbury
was a committed Quaker with a strong sense of social responsibility motivated
by his Christian convictions. His family was anti-slavery and campaigned for
abolition years earlier. He was also for the temperance movement as he saw how
alcoholism ravaged families into poverty and squalor. When John Cadbury handed
the family chocolate business over to his sons they decided to use their wealth
to reform working conditions for their employees.
At
a time when factories were dismal and dangerous places to work, the Cadburys
made sure theirs were safe and humane. 1893, the Cadbury’s bought up land
around their factory to build a community for their workers, named Bournville
Village. They wanted to provide a safe, pleasant place to live as an
alternative for grimy cities. Each home was comfortable and had a plot of land
to grow vegetables. They built a community for families to enjoy activities.
They provided their employees with good wages, medical treatment, educational
opportunities, and pension plans, which was very unusual for the time. They
introduced the 5-1/2 day work week and closing for bank holidays. The factory
had sports facilities for the employees. In 1918, the Cadburys organized
elected work councils, made up of equal numbers of workers and management. The
councils, one for men and one for women, oversaw the welfare of workers and
their families. They eventually built a hospital for the Bournville community.[3]
The
Cadburys did this not because the government made them, or because they were pressured
by tightening regulations, they did it because they took Jesus into the
workplace. I bet the next time you bite into a Cadbury cream egg you’ll think
about it differently. While the Cadbury’s were the forerunners, thankfully
other business owners have followed suit, like Truett Cathy of Chick-fil-a,
which is still closed for business on Sundays and Norm Miller of Interstate
Battery, who posts his personal testimony on the company website. (click here)
What
this passage implicitly teaches is that there is no division between sacred and
secular. So many Christians compartmentalize their life so that who they are on
Sunday has nothing to with their work on Monday through Saturday. However, the
basic premise of this passage is that all of life relates to God and is sacred,
whether we're making a business presentation, fixing someone’s leaky faucet,
changing diapers or singing a hymn. If you are a Christian, then you do not work
primarily for your employer, because behind your boss stands the Lord Jesus. Knowing
that all of our work is a reflection our relationship with Christ should raise
the bar in every area of our workplace experience.
Martin
Luther was once approached by a man who enthusiastically announced that he’d
recently become a Christian. Wanting desperately to serve the Lord, he asked
Luther, “What should I do now?” As if to say, should he become a minister or
perhaps a traveling evangelist. A monk, perhaps. Luther asked him, “What is
your work now?”
“I’m
a shoe maker.” Much to the cobbler’s surprise, Luther replied, “Then make a
good shoe, and sell it at a fair price.”
In
becoming a Christian, we don’t need to retreat from the vocational calling we
already have—nor do we need to justify that calling, whatever it is, in terms
of its “spiritual” value or evangelistic usefulness. We simply exercise
whatever our calling is with new God-glorifying motives, goals, and
standards—and with a renewed commitment to performing our calling with greater
excellence and higher objectives.
[1] Kathryn
Dill, “Report: CEOs Earn 331 Times As Much As Average Workers, 774 Times As
Much As Minimum Wage Earners” Fortune, 15
April 2014, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/04/15/report-ceos-earn-331-times-as-much-as-average-workers-774-times-as-much-as-minimum-wage-earners/>
[2]
Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible
Commentary—New Testament (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2007), 621.
[3]
Melinda Penner, “Cadbury Chocolate and Christianity,” Stand to Reason, 10 July 2014 <http://www.str.org/blog
/cadbury-chocolate-and-christianity#.Va5TS_lViko>
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