This past weekend was Parents Weekend at Covenant College, with many parents visiting campus and participating in their sons’ and daughters’ schedules and activities. It’s always a wonderful weekend as parents gain a closer glimpse into college and campus life.

On Friday I spoke in chapel and afterwards received several requests to make my talk available in some accessible format. So I’m posting it here on my blog, edited for print, noting that it is certainly longer than my normal posting but trusting that readers will find it helpful.

Good morning. I want to say a special welcome to parents who are visiting on this Parents Weekend. These are interesting and challenging times for all of us, and we here at Covenant are very grateful for the opportunity to serve your families.

As a Covenant parent myself, I am keenly aware of the differences among colleges and universities, and I am continually grateful for the distinctive mission and commitments of Covenant, and for its impact on our sons Dan and David.

My wife Kathleen sends her greetings and her apologies for not being here. Months ago, before the Parents Weekend date was finalized, she agreed to speak at a women’s conference for a wonderful church in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, where she is right now. She is staying with the parents of Covenant student Zein Baluch; we’ve known the Baluch family from our Chicago-area days. But she is really sorry she is not here to see you parents.

I want to talk this morning about something that has been on my mind for some time now, triggered more recently by a number of conversations and experiences that have alerted me to a viewpoint that lurks in many Christians’ minds, including perhaps some of yours.

I want to offer a sort of apology for this talk. When I speak in chapel I usually offer a more straightforward exposition of Scripture, because I really believe that a regular diet of God’s Word is what we need most. I am continually grateful to Chaplain Messner for his faithful ministry of the Word and his Word-centered leadership of our chapel program. But I’m compelled to do something a bit different today.

Three weeks ago, I was in Washington, D.C. for a lunch with a number of Covenant alumni who are living and working there. Among the crowd was Emily Belz, who graduated from Covenant last year and is getting going as a journalist and reporter for World magazine. Emily has two articles in this week’s issue, on the election of Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee and on President Obama’s ouster of Bush appointee Mark Dybul as U.S. global AIDS coordinator. If you didn’t recognize it, that’s a plug for a Covenant education in light of what it has enabled a Covenant alumna to do!

Emily told me of some questions that her father has asked her, and she wanted my opinion about them. The questions ran along these lines: “Do Covenant students tend to think that business is bad, or at least not as worthy as other callings? Do they tend to be suspicious of people who produce profits and wealth? Is there a subtle or not-so-subtle value system of callings, with missions or teaching or art or working with International Justice Mission – or whatever – ranked higher on the theological and moral scale than business enterprise in a corporate or entrepreneurial context?”

Emily’s questions connected to other things in my mind. For example:

● I’ve occasionally heard from students – even some of you – that you have decided to put aside one calling, say, to be a lawyer or a doctor or a person in business, to work in areas focused on poverty or justice or education or ministry.

● I’m aware of characterizations here on campus, sometimes subtle and sometimes more overt, of business endeavors which produce profits and wealth as instruments of selfishness and greed, and other endeavors as more concerned with the well-being of people and communities. This view is especially disturbing in light of its direct contradiction to our theological convictions about the sacredness of all callings before God.

(After this chapel talk, I received this email message that confirmed my sense of how some of our students think about these things: Thanks so much! And thank you for continuing to provoke the way we think here at Covenant. I remember talking to ______ about this very topic. He was expressing HUGE frustration at feeling like his interest in business was a lower calling than others (such as mine in working for a human rights organization)…we were really struggling with how to solve ___’s dilemma. At Covenant, we’re told Christ is preeminent in ALL things – that everything should be integrated with faith. But, then, how is running a business and earning money Kingdom work? How does that do justice or bring mercy?)

● I’ve heard of some suspicion about our efforts here at Covenant to nurture relationships with people of financial means in order to win their hearts for the College, and with their hearts their financial support.

In the introduction to his excellent little book Business to the Glory of God, Wayne Grudem notes this suspicion about business among Christians:

Business seems synonymous with greed and corruption, not something that would imitate a holy God….When people ask how their lives can glorify God, they aren’t usually told ‘Go into business.’

As Grudem himself says, this suspicion of business has some sound basis in fact: corporate scandals, fraud, dishonesty, selfishness, exploitation, and of course the bad business practice, undergirded by bad government practices and fueled by bad personal ethics which have helped to produced the horrific economic circumstances we’re witnessing and suffering from today.

But, whether from doubts about business itself or about the possibility of conducting business ethically, the attitudes and biases evident in my experience are, I believe, real, and they concern me greatly.

But then I’m struck by an ironic twist, particularly in Christian “ministry” circles: the oddly contrary experience of seeing so many folks seeking to raise financial support for their missions and ministry endeavors from the very people who have accumulated sufficient wealth to be able to provide that support. It’s an arresting and bothersome paradox, to be sure: suspicion and even disdain for the money-makers, and yet eager solicitation of their money — as if it’s more godly to be happily dependent on wealthy people’s money than to honor them for creating it!

In this regard, to the student who sent me the email message after chapel, I would say: It’s not just ____’s dilemma but yours as well, at least if you expect that people like ____ will help support you in your work for human rights.

In the few minutes I have this morning, I simply want to provoke a thought or two in your minds about business, as Grudem puts it, to the glory of God. In doing this, I am completely mindful of the corruption and scandal that seem to be everywhere. As Grudem unpacks his thesis for business to the glory of God, he repeats again and again and again the refrain “This brings many temptations to sin.” The theological framework that shapes our thinking and living here at Covenant – creation, fall, redemption, consummation – prompts both realism and hope. We are utterly and honestly realistic about the devastation of sin and the fall and the consequences for human life and functioning. But we are also full of hope, because of both common grace and the grace of redemption which enables faithful and genuine obedience which God regards as acceptable worship.

My burden this morning is simply (1) to remind you that business is also a holy and godly calling, fraught with dangers and temptations and slippery slopes like every other calling; and then (2) to encourage those of you who sense God’s call into business to relish that call and pursue it wholeheartedly.

Some of you might be thinking, “Why are you singling out the calling of business?” The primary reason is that I think it’s probably the calling that Christians have the most trouble, in the ways I’ve suggested, understanding as a holy and biblical calling. If I were to address art or poetry or education or healthcare, I doubt if there would be much stir of doubt or cynicism in any of your minds. With business, I think – no, I know – there is.

And I also admit that this is a bit personal. I have spent many years of my life in various business enterprises, both directly on the payroll and for the last several years on an array of boards of directors. I’ve seen the highs and the lows; I’ve seen businesses work well and not so well; I’ve seen businesses that were conducted honorably and faithfully to the glory of God and others conducted to the glory and selfish benefit of man. But I have been convinced beyond any doubt that it’s a worthy and noble calling, and that Christians belong in business. And I’d like you to think so too.

In the first chapter of the Bible, God gives Adam and Eve this charge:

Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Genesis 1:28)

From these verses, and many others throughout the Scriptures, we can take encouragement that God has given us a task and a calling: to be fruitful, to produce, to reproduce, to create, to utilize the rich resources of the earth and the sky and the sea to live lives of multiplication and manifold blessing for others.

In Genesis 4:20-22, three of Adam’s descendants are described in terms of their work: raising livestock, creating music, and manufacturing implements for work. Throughout the Old Testament and right through the New Testament, we are given many, many pictures of workers, builders, merchants, landowners, ranchers, farmers, and on and on. And many of these pictures are of men and women of great wealth.

While there are many warnings about the particular temptations of money and wealth, and many instructions about how to manage and use wealth in godly ways, I would contend that there is not one condemnation of business enterprise itself, or of the creation of wealth itself, or of wealth itself.

Many others have the same viewpoint. For my brief contribution to the “Books that changed my life” series, I tell you about a book that helped transform my thinking about these things, way back in the mid-’80s when I was a philosophy professor and had taken on some of the more typical suspicions of business and wealth. I read Brian Griffiths’ wonderful little book The Creation of Wealth. Griffiths, who was dean of the City University Business School in London, a director of the Bank of England, a noted international economist, and a committed Christian, makes a powerful and biblical case for free enterprise and market-based economies as our best hope for using our resources wisely for meeting the needs of the world.

Years later, Wayne Grudem, whose book I’ve already mentioned, makes a similar claim, based on his biblical analysis of the foundations and dimensions and outcomes of business activity; he says, “the only long-term solution to world poverty is business.”

The enterprise of business displays people – millions and millions of people — and Christians – millions and millions of Christians — all over the world, putting their gifts and talents and energies to work, together with others, to provide useful products and worthwhile services at affordable prices so that others can benefit. In fact it’s business enterprise that generates an almost unbelievable availability of goods and services, provides untold numbers of jobs, enables families to support themselves, their communities, their churches, and the more needy people around them. And it is business enterprise that generates wealth that makes it possible for many of you to pursue your so-called “higher” callings.

Business enterprise is found in all shapes and sizes: large multi-national corporations, local factories and shops, and, particularly in developing countries, miniscule, micro-level business activities like the Chalmers Center promotes, which produce real value, real economic value, almost as if ex nihilo. In my opinion, an efficient, productive, and profitable business is one of the most magnificent demonstrations of the glorious potentialities inherent in God’s creation, every bit as beautiful as a symphony or a novel or heart surgery or a literacy program — or even a college!

Again, are there dangers? Well, of course: greed, exploitation, abuse of the environment, corruption. But those evils and others cut across every calling, and – hear me on this – they cut across every economic order and every type of economic system. As Winston Churchill is reported to have said, “Capitalism is the worst economic system, except for all the others.” One reason that free market economies are “less worse” than others is that they are, simply, free, or at least freer; there is at least a good measure of transparency and independence that serve to limit the hording of economic power among an elite and privileged few. This is one of the great blessings of competition in a free marketplace, and with all of its deficits and risks it’s far better than the alternatives.

Listen to P. J. Hill, the George Bennett Professor of Economics at Wheaton College and a good friend:

In 1800 the richest countries of the world had per capita income about three times that of poor countries. By 2005 this gap had widened so significantly that the per capita incomes of the richest countries were sixty times that of the poor countries. Almost all of this growing difference is not because of exploitation of the poor by the rich. Instead, the vast gap has arisen because of varied abilities to produce wealth. In other words, some parts of the world have discovered the engine of economic growth, while such growth has bypassed other parts. (Wheaton magazine, Winter 2009)

This gain in wealth, and the resulting improvement in quality of life, is one important reason why I get so excited about an increasingly globalized marketplace, with information and access getting into places and corners of the globe where they’ve never gotten before. People who have never been able to participate in the multiplication factor of the creation of economic value – yes, the creation of wealth – are now gaining entry into a vast global marketplace of talents and enterprise and trade and increasing income. How wonderfully thrilling to see millions in other parts of the world now able to pursue through business the creation of wealth that we have enjoyed for so long, and thereby realize the blessings of better living conditions, education, healthcare, cleaner environments, availability of food, safety and security, and on and on.

Again, to the student sender of the post-chapel email message: This is indeed justice and mercy for the well-being of billions.

If you want further confirmation of this almost miraculous creation of wealth, I encourage you to check out a useful website – www.measuringworth.com – which is an on-line service for calculating relative worth over time. You can find charts on a huge range of economic data from several countries, and you can see how, according to several economic indicators, wealth has expanded as business enterprise has done its good work.

Has at least some of this wealth creation been at the expense of others? Of course and there’s no denying it. But it’s indisputable that this wealth creation has actually helped everyone. Compare, for example, from century to century and from generation to generation, the lifestyles, access to affordable goods and services, healthcare, and education available for those considered to be in poverty in this country. The progress is stunning, and the major factor is wealth creation — rightly governed and effectively regulated, duly and fairly taxed, its abuses exposed and punished, but flowering and multiplying in a context of free institutions and free societies and free people. The primary question ought not to be “How do we more justly divide up what already exists?” but rather “How can we encourage and enable more people to join in and contribute to this amazing, expansive wealth creation which God’s wonderfully created world makes possible?”

We could discuss at length the conditions necessary for such flowering: property rights, the rule of law, enforcement of contracts, protections for workers, openness to trade, stable money supply, a fair judicial system, and, especially, moral persons. But at heart it’s the wonder of the creation of value, grounded for Christians in clear understanding of how God has created and ordered his creation, has gifted us for this endeavor, and then blesses, as he blesses faithfulness in all callings.

What do I think of the stimulus package? I’m reserving at least some of my judgment, but you can probably figure out how I look at it. If the stimulus serves to refuel the economic engine that has produced this kind of abundance, then it will be just the thing we need. If, however, it serves to simply pay for stuff, and fund budgets of special interest groups, and send good money after bad in ways that don’t contribute to economic growth, then it will simply make matters worse, and the road back will be even longer. I trust we’ll all be watching.

In the meantime, here is my word to you:

To some of you, tempted to feel suspicion or disdain for the enterprise of business: I know how bad business can be; I’ve seen it up close. But I also know how glorious it can be, and what blessing it can bring. Honor your brothers and sisters who sense God’s calling there.

To others of you, tempted to look down on those who have a gift for creating wealth and at the same time wanting them to support you in your “higher” calling: Get over it – or stop asking. Just a couple of weeks ago here in chapel, we heard from Larry Martin of International Justice Mission, who invited you to consider joining them in their important work on behalf of victims of human trafficking. Mr. Martin announced, “We have jobs!” and I heard a murmur of appreciation in the room. Why does IJM have jobs? Because they have money in their budget. Why is that? Because people with money are giving it to them. So I think you have a choice: Either honor the callings of business people and others who generate wealth, or don’t go to work for IJM and other organizations that depend on donations for their revenues.

To those of you called to other callings than business: Recognize the contribution that business and business people make to the possibility of your fulfilling your calling, in music or teaching or ministry or medicine or missions. Think of all the goods and services, production and availability of resources, communications and transportation and financial systems. The good fruit of business is everywhere, and it is wonderful. Explore and make sure you understand how business enterprise contributes to your life and to the things that matter most to you. I believe you’ll be amazed at what God has enabled human beings to build for the benefit of all.

Finally to those of you called to the world of business: Praise God! Nurture your gifts and resources. Connect with like-minded and like-hearted others. Resolve early and recommit often to God-honoring and gospel-focused principles and practices in how you run your businesses. Provide jobs for many, and seek the welfare of the communities and cities in which you’re situated. Obey the law. Work hard. Create wealth to the glory of God, and be faithful and generous stewards of that wealth. A well-run business is truly a thing of beauty, and it honors the Lord.

And if that phrase “seek the welfare of the city” sounds familiar, it may be because you recognize it from Jeremiah 29 and God’s words to his exiled people. Or it may be because you’ve seen the flyers around campus this week announcing a conference with that title here at Covenant tomorrow afternoon. Although it’s not formally sponsored by the college, it will include breakout session speakers who are connected with the college – like Fikkert and Nabors and Bosworth — and plenary session speakers who share our foundational biblical perspectives. I encourage you to attend, 1:00 to 5:30 in the chapel, no charge.

And, oh, by the way, when you do manage to create that wealth, remember Covenant College! How grateful I am for the generations of wealth creators who have enabled us to be here today, including your families whose labors have generated sufficient resources for you to come to Covenant. Think about future generations of Covenant students and how you could enable them to be here decades from now.