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When Your Boss Expects You to Lie · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, you're sitting at your desk running the numbers, and
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  Speaker 1: your boss is made it clear. If you want to
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  Speaker 1: hit your quotas, you're going to have to bend the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Just a little, leave out a detail here, mislead a
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  Speaker 1: client there. If you don't do it, you could lose
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  Speaker 1: your job and your family is counting on you. But
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  Speaker 1: if you do do it, if you would compromise the truth,
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  Speaker 1: you would know it. How can you survive a high stress,
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  Speaker 1: cutthroat industry without selling out your soul? Today on ask
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  Speaker 1: Pestor John when your boss expects you to lie? The
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  Speaker 1: question is from a thirty five year old man at
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  Speaker 1: sales Pastor John, Hello, and thank you for this podcast.
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  Speaker 1: My high pressure job requires me to mislead clients to
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  Speaker 1: meet quotas. That's the blunt reality. Jesus says in Matthew
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  Speaker 1: five thirty seven that my yes should be a firm yes.
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  Speaker 1: I should mean what I say to mislead is evil,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't think any good can come from being evil,
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  Speaker 1: as Paul says in Romans three to eight. And if
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  Speaker 1: I am a new creature in Christ, I should not
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  Speaker 1: lie to others, as cautions three nine says I tell
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  Speaker 1: my children all of these things. So how do I
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  Speaker 1: live out this life of honest virtue in such a
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  Speaker 1: cutthroat industry that requires coercive practices? Is it permissible to
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  Speaker 1: be reserved and not always forthright with clients about what
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  Speaker 1: I know? If I refuse to compromise, I risk losing
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  Speaker 1: my job and my family depends on my income. How
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  Speaker 1: do I navigate small daily compromises without losing my integrity?
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  Speaker 2: There's a connection between faith in the promises of God
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  Speaker 2: on the one hand, and obedience to the commandments of
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  Speaker 2: God on the other hand. That's the crucial thing to see.
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  Speaker 2: All disobedience, little or big, is owing in some measure
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  Speaker 2: to a lack of faith in the promises of God,
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  Speaker 2: and not trusting God to fulfill his promises is a
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  Speaker 2: vote of no confidence in God. You don't want to
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  Speaker 2: do that. So if God says not to steal, and
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  Speaker 2: we steal, it's because we don't trust him to take
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  Speaker 2: care of us. If God says, don't be anxious, and
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  Speaker 2: our behavior is governed by anxiety, it's because we don't
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  Speaker 2: trust his promise to meet our needs. If God says
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  Speaker 2: not a lie or bear false witness, and we fudge
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  Speaker 2: on the truth. It's because we don't trust him to
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  Speaker 2: work everything together for our good faith and obedience go together.
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  Speaker 2: Disobedience is a sign of unbelief. So eighty four eleven says.
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  Speaker 2: The Lord is a son and shield. The Lord bestows
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  Speaker 2: favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from
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  Speaker 2: those who walk up rightly. If we don't walk up rightly,
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  Speaker 2: it's because we don't believe this. We don't believe this
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  Speaker 2: promise that he won't withhold anything good from us. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: the Lord may require you to have great sacrifices for
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  Speaker 2: the sake of your integrity and your faith. Jesus said,
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  Speaker 2: whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever
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  Speaker 2: loses his life for me will find it. Matthew sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,
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  Speaker 2: it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
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  Speaker 2: John twelve. Obedience is costly. It is, it always is,
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  Speaker 2: sooner or later. But it doesn't cost you your joy,
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't cost your significance. It doesn't cost your integrity,
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't cost your salvation. Those are all intensified. Even
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  Speaker 2: though we may have to make sacrifices in order to
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  Speaker 2: walk up rightly and to maintain our integrity. God won't
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  Speaker 2: withhold from us what is most precious himself, his fellowship,
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  Speaker 2: his salvation, his love, his care, his gift of the
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  Speaker 2: ability to do the will of God and glorify his
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  Speaker 2: name and experience profound joy no matter the cost. Listen
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  Speaker 2: to these amazing promises that God gives to you directly
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  Speaker 2: to encourage you to do the right thing, to take
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  Speaker 2: the risk, to maintain your integrity, and to be a
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  Speaker 2: clear witness for Him. For example, PS, I'm thirty seventy five.
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  Speaker 2: Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him. He
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  Speaker 2: will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
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  Speaker 2: and your justice as the noonday. I remember my father
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  Speaker 2: telling me how when I was six years old, he
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  Speaker 2: faced a terrible financial crisis that might have meant bankruptcy
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  Speaker 2: and losing everything because of a real estate investment he
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  Speaker 2: had made that went bad. And he told me that
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  Speaker 2: the main lesson he learned was the difference between submitting
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  Speaker 2: to the Lord and come admitting his way to the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: This is his way of talking. You can agree or disagree,
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  Speaker 2: but it was so helpful to me to think in
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  Speaker 2: these terms. What he meant was when you commit your
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  Speaker 2: way to the Lord, you do the right thing, you
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  Speaker 2: go the right way, and you totally hand over commit
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  Speaker 2: the consequences to God and trust him to vindicate your integrity.
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  Speaker 2: And he did. That's what Jesus wants us to believe
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  Speaker 2: when he says, seek first the Kingdom of God and
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  Speaker 2: his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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  Speaker 2: Matthew six thirty three. Doing the right thing may be costly,
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  Speaker 2: but you will have what you need. What you need
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  Speaker 2: to do is will what you need to glorify his name.
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  Speaker 2: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, that is,
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  Speaker 2: for doing the right thing for theirs is the kingdom
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  Speaker 2: of heaven. He's a shield to those who walk in integrity.
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  Speaker 2: Is he is, He will protect you from things that
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  Speaker 2: are far worse than financial stress or even financial ruin.
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  Speaker 2: You get a shield, you get heaven. And think of
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  Speaker 2: the good that will come to your children. If you
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  Speaker 2: only think of the material costs and what they may
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  Speaker 2: go without, you're forgetting the deep and lasting lessons your
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  Speaker 2: children will get from seeing their father do the right
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  Speaker 2: thing at great cost. Here's Proverbs twenty verse seven. The
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  Speaker 2: righteous who walks in his integrity. Blessed are his children
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  Speaker 2: after him. What a blessing to have a dad who
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  Speaker 2: does the right thing, not a dad who compromises. And
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  Speaker 2: what a warning the Bible gives us about little compromises
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  Speaker 2: leading to great sins and great disaster. Oh my goodness,
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  Speaker 2: King David takes an innocent stroll on his roof, then
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  Speaker 2: a lustful glance, then adultery, then an attempt to deceive
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  Speaker 2: his friend, then murder, then the death of the child.
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  Speaker 2: You get it. I mean, this is that's the way
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  Speaker 2: it goes. Little compromises lead to big tragedies. But on
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  Speaker 2: the other hand, what wonderful examples the Bible gives us
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  Speaker 2: of people who did the hard thing and risk their
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  Speaker 2: own hurt. Like some fifteen who shall dwell on your
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  Speaker 2: holy hill, He who swears to his own hurt and
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  Speaker 2: does not change. In other words, you keep your word
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  Speaker 2: at any cost. You do that, and you will dwell
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  Speaker 2: on God's holy hill. It may be costly, he calls
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  Speaker 2: it hurt. Swear to your own hurt, but you'll be
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  Speaker 2: with God on his holy hill. Shadrag me shack in
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  Speaker 2: a bed and go kept their integrity thrown into the
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  Speaker 2: fiery furnace. Daniel kept his integrity. Thrown into the lions den,
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  Speaker 2: Joseph kept his integrity and wouldn't sleep with Potiphar's wife.
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  Speaker 2: Thrown into prison, Esther kept her integrity and said, I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to do the right thing, and if I perish,
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  Speaker 2: I perish. Ester Iov. All these examples are meant to
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  Speaker 2: help us, in little things and big things, to trust
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  Speaker 2: God's promises and to do his will no matter what.
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  Speaker 2: So I am praying for you. I really am right now.
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  Speaker 2: I am praying for you that you believe Philippians four nineteen.
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  Speaker 2: My God will supply every need of yours according to
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  Speaker 2: his riches in glory in Christ Jesus, and that you
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  Speaker 2: will do the right thing, your joy will be deeper
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  Speaker 2: and Christ will be honored.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the core issue isn't the quotas the trust. Disobedience
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  Speaker 1: is always an act of unbelief. Bending the truth at
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  Speaker 1: work means you don't actually believe that My God will
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  Speaker 1: supply every need of yours according to his riches and
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  Speaker 1: glory in Christ Jesus. It's scary to risk your livelihood,
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  Speaker 1: but if you hold your ground and you do the
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  Speaker 1: right thing, your joy will be deeper in Christ will
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  Speaker 1: be honored in your life and your testimony. We've talked
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  Speaker 1: about the pressures Christians face in the workplace. For more
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  Speaker 1: here see the aspestoj On book to that section on
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  Speaker 1: how to climb the corporate ladder and glorify God as
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  Speaker 1: you do on pages seventy five and seventy six. Other
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  Speaker 1: related things of value there to in that section. If
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  Speaker 1: you want more, see the aspectus on book pages seventy
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  Speaker 1: five and seventy six. Start there and then branch out.
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  Speaker 1: Next time, we're back to look at how to honor
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  Speaker 1: God with the suffering of others that we see on
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  Speaker 1: our screens. A sort of digital take on Luke thirteen
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  Speaker 1: one to five, a text in our reading to start
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  Speaker 1: the month of August. August is already here, important stuff
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  Speaker 1: to know in a world where suffering finds its way
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  Speaker 1: so quickly to the screens in our pockets. I'm Tony Ranky,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, and I will see you back here on Thursday.