Video Transcript: "Peacemaking"
So in this unit, we're talking about business law, and I certainly am not a lawyer. So if you're needing legal counsel right now, I would strongly recommend that you go and pursue a lawyer, and particularly somebody who is versed, who understands what the Bible says about legal matters, such as some of the things that we're going to be talking about here in this video. And so while not getting legal advice that you would typically get from a lawyer, what I'm trying to do here is to show some of the biblical themes related to biblical standards for businesses in the arena of business law, and I would strongly recommend that any lawyer that you are seeking counsel from that you make sure that that lawyer is versed in these biblical principles and biblical standards. So starting off here, we're talking about peacemaking. And so that may sound a little bit counterintuitive when you think about business law, maybe when you think about business law, the first thing that comes to mind is throwing a book at somebody, the book of law at somebody that's just kind of a statement that may, might not be said in your part of the world, but it's it's not about just lawsuits. It's about peacemaking, and that's what we're called to be as Christians, we're going to talk about how to defend your assets, how to defend the things that God has entrusted to you as his steward. But starting out, we're talking about really the heart when it comes to business law. And that's first of all to be a peacemaker and and Jesus says in Matthew 5:9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Romans 12:18, if possible, so far as it depends on you. And that's a key statement in business law. Sometimes it's just not possible to be at peace with all men, but so far as it depends on you be at peace with all men, that is the heart of a peacemaker. And then in Psalm 34:14, seek peace and pursue it. And so that doesn't always mean there's not going to be some hard conversation, some mediation, some arbitration, those kinds of things certainly are going to come into play. But as much as it depends on us, we're called to be at peace with all men, and sometimes you can go to a point so far in with legal action that peace is just a long shot. It just becomes very difficult. So we need to tread lightly when it comes to legal taking legal action. And let's dive into more of what the Bible says about business law and moving forward here forgiveness really is when it comes to business law. And again, I know this probably sounds counterintuitive. I'll just share a personal experience early on in business, when I was trying to launch a startup, there was a website that I needed to have developed in order to do certain functions that were going to make possible this, this startup that I had envisioned and and so I was told by investors that if I was going to get funding, I needed a product. I needed a functional prototype of this website where I could start to get some users, start to get some customers, and then that would make it more attractive for those investors. And so I found, I mean, I was getting quotes around 25 $30,000 US to get the website that I needed to have developed based on the functionality that it needed, which is probably pretty reasonable. But then I find this guy that says,
Oh, I've built and I was actually referred to him by the CEO of another relatively successful startup that I was aware of, and and he tells me that somebody had built something similar to what I was trying to do just in another industry, and that perhaps I could repurpose what he had done in his industry and use it for my startup in this other industry. And so I approached this person that I was referred to, and he says, Yeah, I can do that for $5,000 you'll just license my technology, my platform, and I'll retrofit it and do everything that's needed to bring it into your industry. Well, it turns out the guy was he just didn't know what he was doing. He really didn't have the skills. And at first I thought it was just a lack of integrity. Then I realized it was a lack of integrity and a lack of skills, which is like the worst combination and, and. But the problem was that I, because he said it was going to be a licensing deal, I paid him $5,000 and this was at a time when I really did not have $5000 a lot of extra cash laying around. I did have $5,000 but that wiped out a lot of my savings going into marriage now, where I needed money to purchase an engagement ring and get started with my my new married life and and I just ended up losing all of that money on a on partnering with somebody that didn't have integrity and didn't have the skills. Again, going back to the Human Resources standards for biblical businesses, those are the two criteria that really ought to be the starting point. Before you bring somebody on board, you start working with somebody in a professional capacity. And so what was I going to do, sue the guy? I mean, I was about to go into one of the happiest times in my life. I'm about to get married, and it really was just the happiest time of my life, but it really had this kind of dark cloud over it, until I forgave this guy and said, You know what, $5,000 is not worth, taking you to court over and the guy just he wouldn't give the money back. He had probably already spent it whatever and and so he just did not deliver virtually anything, certainly nothing that I could actually use and and and just totally became unresponsive to my calls and my my emails and texts and so what was I to do? I forgave. Because what happens when you walk in unforgiveness, even if it's an issue where you've lost a lot of money in business, all you're doing is just torturing yourself. And in Matthew 18:23-34 I'll actually read this passage that immediately proceeds, and is the reason why Jesus shared this parable. But the question was asked by one of his disciples, Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me seven times? No, not seven times, Jesus replied, but 70 times seven, and then Jesus goes into this parable, and he is in the parable is illustrating how when you won't forgive somebody, it's not just about that other person and letting them move on with their life, because they've already moved on with their life. I mean, that guy had already spent my $5,000 he didn't care about me. All I was doing was torturing myself and so and there in Matthew 18:23-34 you read about a servant, a steward, who was forgiven of a debt that he could not ever repay, and he was just so grateful. And then all of a sudden we realized that he evidently was not all that grateful, because he then
went in demand, actually, through a guy in debtors prison who owed him a debt that was probably far of a far smaller amount. And then the master, who originally forgave him, finds out and actually throws him to the torturers and and so the guy is tortured. And it's really an illustration of how unforgiveness, even if it's in business, even if you've seen other people go to court over such matters. Is it really worth it? I don't know. Probably not, probably not. We'll talk a little bit more about what the Bible says about going to court in just a little bit. But an act of forgiveness is a seed of greatness, because when I forgave that guy who didn't have the integrity or the skills to build my website, I started learning how to build websites. To this day, I get paid large sums of money by people to build their websites for them, and I was I've been able to build if I get an idea of a new business I want to start, I can throw up the website. If I have a new product, I can put up a website. And that's been one of the greatest skills that really has been a linchpin for a lot of the things that I've done professionally. But it also helped me to shift away from that startup, because when I started. Developing that website, I realized I wasn't really all that passionate about that particular business in any way, and that's when I shifted and started publishing books, because that truly was what I was passionate about, and what I was really gifted and skilled to do for people in the marketplace. Now. Another thing that the Bible says as a standard for businesses is is to not sue fellow Christians. So hopefully you're able to do business with fellow Christians. I mean, that's really an I tried. I really seek if I can do business with a fellow believer, but because, again, you're trying to find people that you can trust, people that have integrity and people who have a biblical worldview. And that's not always going to be the case, even those who profess to be Christians. A lot of times, you're going to find that they're really not and they really don't have integrity, but, but the Bible does say not to sue fellow Christians. Here's the passage. So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? And so that's the first point judges of secular courts who who are not believers. And fortunately, here in the United States, we do have a lot of judges who are believers. So Paul is talking about, in this context, a day and age when Christianity really was not known around the world at this point, and so it was a pretty safe bet that if you're going to court that Judge probably is not a believer, and they are of no account in the church. Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And so Christians we have, we will actually judge angels. It says, Do you not know that we will judge angels? We will judge matters of far greater importance and weightiness than just the matters of this earth, like people you know, getting take advantage of for they lost a couple $1,000 in a bad business deal. How much more matters of this life? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? And that's Paul in I Corinthians 6:4, so non Christian judges haven't submitted to Christian discipleship or accountability, and Christians should be able to judge
far greater matters than disputes in business, and so that's why, and they're the solution I'm going to get to in just a minute. So if you're not going to sue a fellow Christian, what then do you do to settle the dispute and to and to be the peacemaker? Because, just because, I mean, there are still things that you can do to hold people accountable. This is not saying don't hold people accountable. It's just what's the best pathway to do that, and certainly in this day and age of, I mean, Corinth was a pretty wretched place at this time, and there was just all kinds of of. It was just notoriously wicked. And so you're going to bring your your your case before one of these judges versus going to your fellow believers to settle that dispute just didn't make logical, rational sense to Paul. And he's saying, This is not bill. This is not a wise path to sue fellow Christians. There's a better way. And so here is a model for confrontation, for settling disputes, and then this is really a model specifically for for within the body of Christ. And certainly there are going to be times where your dispute is not just with a member of the Body of Christ, but people who are of other faiths or profess no faith. But there's still principles here that that you can take note of for inside your company, if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. So if somebody, for example, we talked about in HR, establishing covenant with your people, and that this is a way we're going to treat each other. These are the standards that we're going to hold each other accountable to. So if somebody falls short of that, show them their fault in private before you bring it before everybody. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more. You so now you need to bring witnesses, because if this person so you need to confirm this person is unrepentant, or if that additional accountability may bring them to the point where, after they've reflected on it for enough time, that they realize you know what, I really was wrong, I really do need to come clean about this, and that that other two or three more people may help that to happen if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. So now bring it before the leadership. Bring it before the entire church, and make sure that everybody knows that this person is no longer going to be a part of our organization and and so in terms of and so that's that's in the church now, in firing and actually letting somebody go from their job, doing that in front of everybody is might not be the best way to do it. Just being honest with you, my very first job, I'll just just a very I get. I mean, it's just a terrifying experience to even go back and try to relive. But when I was 16 years old, I was working at a cookie store in the mall, and it was closing time. I hadn't been working there for very long, but my friends were waiting out and waiting for me to get off work so we could go out and do something stupid, probably, and so I was just eager to leave following my shift, and they had put on a new manager with me on that particular night, and this was her first night alone as a as a manager, being the manager on on duty, and it was just me and her and and so at closing time, I had pretty much done all. I decided what was enough to be done. It was not
enough. I did not see it through and make sure that everything was totally cleaned up, because I was just like, I'm not doing this all by myself. I'm not used to doing this all by myself. There's usually a handful of other people here to help, and my friends are waiting. I just decided, You know what I'm out of here, we had a staff meeting so all the workers of this cookie store, we met in the mall, and it was on, I'll never forget, it was on a Sunday afternoon when my manager called this meeting. I mean, who calls work meetings on Sunday afternoons? Probably not a believer and and so she opens the meeting and says, I've got to tell you all that the manager on duty, I don't remember what her name was. Was it Jessica or whatever. Jessica and Darren no longer work in this company, and that was news to both Jessica and me, and so we had both been let go in front of the entire staff, the entire all the workers, probably 15 to 20 of us. We were those, those two of us, we were let go in front of the entire congregation. So I have never heard of that even happening since then, aside from, you know on, sometimes you'll see people, people have been impeached, or people of high profile positions, they get let go publicly, but I had never expand. I experienced it firsthand, but, you know, it really taught me a lot about the value of accountability and that this is the way that we're going to operate as a company. This is the this is our culture, and when one of us falls short in that area, and there was no, by the way, there was no conversation. The problem with the way that my manager handled that situation is that she just jumped all of those steps in between. There was no showing me my fault in private. There was no bringing to, you know another person with her to talk to me about it, I probably would have repented and said, Yeah, I blew it. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. That was really the first correction I had gotten. I was a very young, impressionable teenager, pretty irresponsible and and they sure let me know by letting me go publicly in front of that my all of my co workers. So it was quite, quite embarrassing, but, but some lessons learned nonetheless. So there are some right ways and wrong ways to confront people. I think if you're going to fire somebody in front of the whole company that there would have ideally been some conversations that led up to that. Now, if you're sued in a court of law by another Christian, I would encourage you with the knowledge that wise Christians are available to arbitrate those disputes. So you are not left to only go to the courts. There are mediate, there Christian mediators that are wise in many cases. They are lawyers and and that they can, they can mediate those disputes. And so if you are in court proceedings where you're being sued, you can request that the court refer you to one of those Christian mediators or arbitrators that would be agreed on by both by both parties, so that you're you're the person that is suing you doesn't feel like you know that they're going to be there's going to be a bias towards you, or vice versa. But if you are sued by another Christian, you may defend yourself in a secular court. In this situation, there's no biblical mandate that says that if you are sued by another Christian,
that you can't defend yourself in this particular situation, and there's also no explicit prohibition against a Christian suing a non Christian in a secular court. And so it's not as those secular courts are not ordained by God, they certainly are. And this is what Romans 13:1-7, says, and so we're talking about a time when Jesus was not yet known throughout the known world. And so there were courts that had their judges, had not yet been evangelized, and yet, still, in this context, Paul is saying that these secular courts, the government, is still ordained by God, and so don't, don't say, Oh no, I won't have any part in using the court systems, because it's, you know, it's not the church or it's not you know, even Paul cited Roman law and used secular courts to protect his own legal rights. And there are a few references there where you can go and check those out as well. But the crux of the matter as it relates to peacemaking and lawsuits and all the things that we've been talking about is to maintain pure motives when it comes to taking legal action against some someone else, whether they're a Christian or not, and whether they're taking legal action against you. Jesus said in Matthew 5:40, if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. And so that may sound a little bit extreme, like you're just supposed to be a doormat for everybody and just let everybody take advantage of you. That's not what Jesus is saying. Matthew Henry, biblical who's written a wonderful biblical commentary. He interprets this in saying, if the matter be small, which we may lose without considerable damage to our families, it is good to submit to it legal, non resistance, for for peace sake. So if it's going to make peace, and it really is not so, like in my case, the $5,000 where I really needed several 1000 of that for an engagement ring and just for savings for going into my my my wedding, my honeymoon, my first year of marriage. I really needed that money, but it was not worth having $5,000 and having to pay all the court fees. It probably, I probably wouldn't have gained much as a result. And that's the thing that typically happens when you sue somebody, or you get sued. I mean, nobody really is going to be happy. Typically, nobody, nobody wins. It's just a lot of emotional investment and turmoil that happens, and it just ends up not being a fruitful endeavor for anybody. So walk in forgiveness and always make sure that your motives for taking legal action, if that's what you need to do, if that's what God is calling you to do, and there's just really no way around it, just make sure that you have pure motives in doing so see you in the next video.