This promise of God was
repeated to Abraham's son Isaac as follows:
I will make your
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give
them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations
on earth will be blessed (Gen 26:4).
So why are we building the
Kingdom of God in the marketplace? Because we are part of the big
picture of the offspring of Abraham and Isaac continuing the
covenant to bless the nations in:
|
business
charity (not-for-profits)
church (impacting the world)
creative Arts
education |
government
health
Justice
media/entertainment and
sport. |
If we can grasp this
breath-taking purpose of God it will transform our daily
occupation from self focussed need to vibrant participation in a
4000 year promise that God blesses us to bless others (John 17:18 and
Col 1:20).
In Psalm 122 David writes:
Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."
For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.
This peace is much more than
just passive prayer and social acquiescence. This peace was the
prayer of a warrior, a judge, a governor, an administrator and a
king. This prayer was a way of life, proactively pursuing
peace and prosperity in the life of the city. This prayer comes
out of relationship with God and releases his ways into our daily
occupations and relationships. This prayer is about people working for the good of the city in
self-sacrificing ways on a daily basis.
Is this your vision for your
city and your role in the marketplace? Check out
Isaiah 58:6-14 to refresh God's purpose for your city. There
is no law and no company rule against releasing this kind of value
in your workplace.
Jesus affirmed the covenant of
Abraham by calling us to bear fruit for the Kingdom. This is the
fruit that comes out of remaining in Jesus 24/7 and putting his
Word to work for the benefit of others:
You did not choose me, but
I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that
will last (John 15:14-16).
And similarly from the apostle
Paul:
All this is from God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry
of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself
in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has
committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal
through us (2 Cor 5:18-20).
This great challenge is an
exciting adventure. It is a challenge that calls us to lift our
eyes above the mundane. It is a challenge that does not despair of
a broken world but chooses to work for the good in the world (John
17:18-24). We are called
to be amongst those who take up the covenant of Abraham to bless
our nation in the course of our daily occupation. In this sense
our occupation is our vocation.
This requires a paradigm shifts
in the following essential areas:
-
from fragmentation to teamwork
-
from privatised faith to
transparency
-
from Sunday-Monday dualism to
daily integration of belief and behaviour.
Let's be excited about being
proactive participants in the 4000 year Abrahamic covenant. We are
here to bear fruit for the Lord for whom every power and authority
exists (Col
1:15-20). Let's commit to working together to build the
Kingdom of God in the marketplace by
blessing those in our sphere of
influence and thereby
blessing our
nation.
With you in Christ,
Peter
Peter Kentley
Australian Marketplace Connections
Click here to contact the author. |
