“At most you will spend about 5 percent of your waking hours in church. 95 percent of your life you spend in the world. The scorecard is about the 95 percent out in the world—Pastor Victor Penz

 

1.) Ethics

• Philippians 1:27– Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
• 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12– Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
• God calls Christians to exemplify the highest ethical code of conduct in our lives and workplaces.
• Consistent moral conduct builds respect, trust, and admiration. If our integrity is compromised, we lose our credibility.

 

2.) Excellence

• Colossians 3:23-24– Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
• So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
• God has called Christians to a standard of excellence in everything they do, including their work!
• “The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays—not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.” — Martin Luther

 

3.) Endurance

• 1 Corinthians 4:12-13- We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.
• 1Corinthians 15:58– Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as we know, our labor is not in vain in the Lord.
• God calls Christians to work hard and endure whatever displeasures we face.
• “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” -William Barclay

4.) Encouragement

• 1 Thessalonians 4:11-16- Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
• Ephesians 4:29-32– Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen…Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
• God calls Christians to encourage people. He wants us to inspire people with hope, courage, and support.
• “I’m tired boss…mostly I’m tired of people being ugly toward each other. I’m tired of all of the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There’s too much of it. It’s like pieces of glass in my head all the time. —John Coffey, in The Green Mile

 

5.) Evangelism

• Acts 1:8– But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
• God calls Christians to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people wherever we go.
• 2 Timothy 4:1-2 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season.
• We must be ready to share our faith with others when God gives us opportunities.
• “It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor.” —Martin Luther

 

Evangelism Approaches

• Build good relationships at your workplace.
• Pray for your boss, coworkers, clients, etc.
• Share your personal story of faith.
• Invite co-workers to come to church or a church function with you.

 

6.) Entrepreneurism

• Proverbs 11:10– When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices.
• Romans 12:6-8– We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
• God gifts and calls some Christians to start businesses and organizations to expand his kingdom.
• Some ventures are primarily evangelistic, but others focus on alleviating human suffering or promoting the common good in society (Social, Nutritional, Medical, Political, Economic, Educational)

 

Harry Ironside was an influential evangelist and pastor during the first half of the 20^th century. When he was a boy, he worked for Dan Mackay, a Scottish shoemaker, or “cobbler,” as he preferred to be called. The humble cobbler was a forthright Christian and his little shop was a real testimony for Christ in the neighborhood.

On the little counter in front of the bench on which the owner of the shop sat, was a Bible, generally open. This caused many customers to ask religious questions and Mackay took these opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Over the years, many people professed Christian faith right there in the cobbler shop.

It was Harry’s chief responsibility to pound leather for shoe soles. A piece of cowhide would be cut to suite, then soaked in water. He had a flat piece of iron over his knees and, with a flat-headed hammer, he pounded these soles until they were hard and dry. It was a tedious process and it often seemed unnecessary to the young apprentice.

What made his task worse was the fact that, a block away, there was another cobbler shop, and in it sat a jolly, godless cobbler who gathered the boys of the neighborhood about him and regaled them with lewd tales that made him dreaded by respectable parents as a menace to the community. Yet, somehow, he seemed to thrive and that perhaps to a greater extent than Harry’s employer. Harry noticed that he never pounded the soles at all, but took them from the water, nailed them on, damp as they were, and with the water splashing from them as he hammered each nail.

One day Harry ventured inside and asked, “I notice you put the soles on while still wet. Are they just as good as if they were pounded?” He gave him a wicked leer as he answered, “They come back all the quicker this way, my boy!”

“Feeling he had learned something, he related the instance to his boss and suggested that he was perhaps wasting time in drying out the leather so carefully. Mr. Mackay stopped his work and opened his Bible to the passage that reads, “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of god.” “Harry,” he said, “I do not cobble shoes just for the 50 or 75 cents that I get from my customers. I am doing this for the glory of God. I expect to see every shoe I have ever repaired in a big pile at the judgment seat of Christ, and I do not want the Lord to say to me in that day, ‘Dan, this was a poor job. You did not do your best here.’ I want Him to be able to say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’”

Then he went on to explain that just as some men are called to preach, so he was called to fix shoes, and that only as he did this well would his testimony count for God. It was a lesson Harry was never able to forget. For the rest of his life, he said, “Often when I was tempted to be carelessness, and to slipshod effort, I have thought of dear, devoted Dan Mackay, and it has stirred me up to seek to do all as for Him who died to redeem me.