Remember: Your Coworkers Don’t Have the Church
If you are a Christian who regularly attends a Bible-preaching Church, you can easily assume everyone you interact with enjoys the same privileges as you. In particular, you can easily assume when you enter your secular workplace that, to some degree or another, you and your coworkers lead similar lives. After all, you work at the same place and you probably have the same educational background. What makes you so different? One of the most important things you can do as you go off to work is to remember that your coworkers don’t have the Church. And that has several implications that you should keep in mind when you enter the world of your 9 to 5.
They don’t have regular exposure to God’s Word
If you are a member of a solid local Church, chances are week after week one of your Elders opens up God’s word and explains to you what it means and how it should impact your life. When you have regular exposure to the preached Word, whether you are aware of it or not, the Holy Spirit uses that Word to conform your life to the image of Christ. When you hear the Word preached, your worldviews are confronted, your sins are exposed, your heart is encouraged, and your gaze is directed back towards the reality that you are a sinner in a world ruled by a holy God and your one hope is the propitiation provided in Christ’s blood.
Since your coworkers don’t have the Church, they do not have the regular exposure to God’s Word. When you come into the office on Monday morning, you most likely just came off of a blessed day of rest, reflection, and spiritual revival. Your coworkers, on the other hand, are not starting their week with any sort of conviction of sin or encouragement of faith. Many spent their weekend trying to forget about the week, spending time drinking or pursuing worldly pleasure. Whatever they chose to do, if your coworkers don’t attend a faithful local Church, they do not have the same exposure to God’s word as you do.
What does this mean? You need to be a voice of truth in the office. Your coworkers don’t have the luxury of consistently having their life confronted by the truth. In fact, they might never be exposed all week to God’s word. Think of how different you life would be if you weren’t consistently hearing God’s word. Imagine how you would view the world or the wrong things you would prioritize. You would have nothing but self to live for and to serve. Idolatry would reign in your heart unchecked and uncontested.
Be diligent to take every opportunity to share God’s truth with your coworkers. You might be the only avenue they have to hear it.
They aren’t consistently warned about their sin
Sin is deceitful and damning. Not only will sin send you to Hell, it will send you to Hell while convincing you that you are on the path to Heaven. Ever since the fall humans in their natural state choose everything contrary to God’s law and seek to glorify and serve self rather than the living God. The local Church is a place where, as the author of Hebrews says, you are exhorted over the deceitfulness of your personal sin. Through the sermon, discussions, and prayer, every time you go to Church, you are reminded that your biggest problem in life is your sin and that, even though you are saved, indwelling sin threatens to draw you away from Christ.
Since your coworkers don’t have the Church, they aren’t being warned about the eternal danger of sin. Most likely, the word “sin” isn’t in their vocabulary. Your coworkers almost certainly don’t see personal sin as the most destructive and dangerous thing in their life nor do they contemplate that most of their problems come down to living in rebellion to God. Think about who you would be if no one warned you about your sin. You most likely would keep living in ignorance and rebellion, never giving a second thought to the things of God and developing for yourself a host of ideas about the world that are not true.
What does this mean? Don’t be surprised if your coworkers call “good evil and evil good.” Without the word of God to define morality and a loving community of believers to remind you to “pursue holiness, without which no one will see God,” people end up simply doing and believing what feels good to them. “Live your truth” is the creed of our age. Therefore, your coworkers political views, moral views, their work ethic, and a host of other issues are not determined by God’s word. So when you are tempted to follow a coworkers advice or accept an argument they are making, remind yourself that they most likely have no idea of the reality of sin in their own heart or in the world.
Be incredibly discerning and make sure truth is defined by God.
They don’t regularly spend time with Godly people
One of the great blessings of being a part of the body of Christ is the type of people you hang out with weekly. There are certainly difficulties with interactions and relationships within the local Church. At the end of the day, however, your fellow Church members are the godliest people you could choose hang around with. Though there are exceptions, your Church no doubt is full of saints both young and old who love the Lord Jesus Christ and who are seeking to humbly grow in godliness. Not only that, but most of them are willing and desire to help you grow in your knowledge and practice of the Christian faith. Where else can you find such excellent and spiritually profitable company than in the local Church?
Since your coworkers don’t have the Church, they do not have consistent interaction with godly people. Remember what Paul says: “bad company corrupts good morals.” Imagine the type of person you would be if you never spent extended, consistent time with people who served and loved God. No doubt as the years went on, you would become more and more indifferent to spiritual things. In fact, when you actually came in contact with a genuinely godly person, you would likely be indifferent towards them and think them entirely odd, stupid, or evil. That is the life most of your coworkers live week to week. Your coworkers aren’t exposed to people who seek to obey the Lord or who seek to glorify Him in all things.
What does this mean? How you behave at work represents what Christianity is to your coworkers. Don’t assume your coworkers have dozens of godly Christian examples they interact with daily. You interacting with them is likely the only time they get to see what Christianity means “up close and personal.” Your behavior will either “adorn the gospel” or will make the gospel seen powerless. So enter your workplace assuming that you, and no one else, are setting the example for your coworkers of what godliness looks like.
You might be the only Christian your coworkers interact with closely during the week. Therefore, you have the high calling and privilege of representing Christ to them.
Conclusion
If you are a member of a solid local Church, you get consistent exposure to God’s word, your sins are confronted, and you spend time with godly people. Your coworkers, on the other hand, likely have none of those privileges. So pray before you clock in each morning that your conduct would honor the name of Christ, that you would take every opportunity to speak truth, and that you would be protected from any ungodly influence while at work.
View yourself as an “ambassador for Christ” in the workplace and you will start to see more and more opportunities to glorify God in your “secular” vocation.
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