crown

Articles

By Crown Financial Ministries

Choosing a business partner should be done with the same caution as choosing a spouse.

In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul wrote, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?" Clearly, the "what" is specific: believers are admonished not to be yoked to unbelievers. Then other questions arise. What is a yoke? Does it cover only marriages or does it extend also to business relationships?

What is a yoke?
In 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV) where Paul says, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers," the yoke referenced is a farm implement used to link two working animals together.

This yoke in the Lord’s day was a common everyday device used to couple oxen together for plowing or hauling. The oxen were matched as closely as possible so the burden would be distributed equally. The two animals had to be trained to work together, even walking stride for stride. The yoke bound them together for the purpose of accomplishing a task, and without mutual compromise it could not be done.

Hence, the analogy of a yoke to a marriage is an accurate one. A marriage should be two people pulling in common bond toward compatible goals and sharing the load equally.

A financial yoke
Other than a marriage, there is no better defined yoke between two or more people than a business partnership. The intent of a partnership is to create a binding business relationship in which all parties are equal in responsibility, authority, and liability. Indeed, the law deals with partnerships in this manner. If one partner commits to a business decision, all partners are bound by it.

People with opposite goals and values will not be compatible. When they are linked (yoked) together, either in marriage or in business, their differing values will ultimately create conflicts.

When a believer and an unbeliever can maintain a successful partnership without conflict over the spiritual goals of the company, it is normally because the believer has compromised God’s principles (see Romans 12:2).

Conclusion
If you are already in an unequally yoked business situation, observe the principles taught by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7. If you have the opportunity to be released from the partnership, you should arrange it. If you don’t have the opportunity, make your partner’s salvation your number one item of prayer.

By Crown Financial Ministries

Many Christians say they have a Christian business, but what does that mean? A Christian business is one that is controlled by a Christian. The more control this Christian has, the more the business can reflect his or her spiritual values.

Prioritizing the Christian business
Clearly, a Christian in business can be used by the Lord but only if the correct priorities have been preestablished. One key to being useful to the Lord is to make decisions on the basis of God’s Word and not on circumstances, feelings, or what is acceptable to society.

One of the priorities of a business should be to lead others to the Lord. However, if all other functions are ignored in pursuit of evangelism, the work will be short-lived. Therefore, the priorities of a business boil down to this: "What are my goals and can my goals be balanced to achieve the overall objectives of serving God while meeting material needs?"

Goal 1: Salvation
When the primary thrust of a businessperson’s outreach is to ensure that others within his or her sphere of influence hear the promises of Jesus Christ, a whole new perspective takes place.

God prepares hearts through the Holy Spirit and then provides the opportunity to share in a meaningful way.

Goal 2: Use of funds
Proverbs 3:9 says, "Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce." It is God’s promise that by honoring Him outwardly (materially) before the world, He will in turn honor us. The firstfruits from any business should be surrendered in the name of the Lord.

The second use of funds from a business is to pay employees fairly. To people, authority and position mean power and wealth. To God they mean responsibility. A Christian businessperson who seeks to serve the Lord will have to accept that the economic rewards of doing business will also belong to those faithful employees who helped to build the business.

The third use of funds is to pay suppliers and creditors on time. There is no poorer witness than a business that is consistently delinquent on accounts. It is the responsibility of every Christian to budget wisely and live on surplus funds, not accounts payable. "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,’ when you have it with you" (Proverbs 3:27-28).

Goal 3: Discipleship
Once the goals for witnessing and the use of money have been determined, the next goal is to disciple those who have been won to the Lord. The same principles that have become a part of your life should be ingrained within them. "The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).

Therefore, it is vital to make a sound discipleship program available. This can be accomplished by written materials, audios, or videos, but an essential part is personal follow-up and accountability.

Does all of this sound difficult and time consuming? No doubt about it, and that’s why most businesses seldom operate God’s way. The first step is to start with one or two who are truly seeking God’s best. Once they are trained, they can help train others.

Conclusion
I trust that by this point your image of a "successful" Christian businessperson, owner or otherwise, has changed somewhat. Although it’s true that one essential element of a Christian business is profit, it is not the most important element. The purpose of any Christian, in business or otherwise, is to glorify God. "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men" (Colossians 3:23).

By Crown Financial Ministries

Good business planning must involve setting priorities and working on the most important ones first. In the area of money, that is called budgeting.

Business budgeting is the process of allocating available resources among a variety of possible expenditures. If a company sells a product or service, it needs a system of budgeting and billing customers.

Financial priorities
How we use our money, on many occasions, is the clearest outside indicator of what we really believe.

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Luke 16:13). The priorities we establish for the use of our money (both personal and business) can give us good insight into where we are spiritually.

Just as a thermometer doesn’t make a room hot or cold but, rather, measures the temperature in the room, so money and how we handle it doesn’t make us spiritual or worldly; it merely reflects the inner spiritual condition.

Scripture supports a business priority system for payment.

Pay suppliers. Without a doubt, those who provide materials on credit have the first right to any available income from a business. This commitment runs contrary to present day business logic and business practices, which say, “When money is tight, string out the accounts payable.”

Yet God’s Word has a different attitude: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are His delight” (Proverbs 12:22). When a business owner orders materials, there is an implied promise to pay. A Christian’s promise is his or her vow and it must be honored. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it” (Proverbs 3:27).
Pay employees. Once creditors are paid, the next priority is to pay employees what is due them. This also runs contrary to present day business practices, which says that owners should be paid before employees. “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3).
Pay owner or self. Once creditors have been paid and employees have received their compensation, owners can draw their compensation. It is not unusual for people who start businesses to feel that they sacrificed to build the companies, so they have the right to any and all proceeds.

However, this is not what God’s Word teaches. In essence, owners are faced with a critical decision: whether to obey God’s Word or adapt to the common business practice of today.

That choice is what separates Christian businesspeople from all others. Christianity is more than verbal proclamation and church attendance; it is a lifestyle that says, regardless of the costs I will follow His principles.

Priorities for use of time
There is no biblical principle that sets normal business hours at 40, 60, or 80 hours a week. The preponderance of evidence in Scripture seems to indicate a sunup to sundown workday, six days per week.

Yet in today’s American society most employees feel that anything beyond 40 hours should be overtime paid at time and a half, and many owners think that anything less than 80 hours per week is laziness.

Both sides are extremes. Owners who allow work slothfulness from their employees are just as wrong as those who demand extraordinarily long work weeks, with or without adequate compensation for the extra work.

Very seldom does more money compensate for employee occupational burnout.

Ethical priorities
After owners have established financial and time priorities in their businesses, they need to make sure that ethical priorities are established.

There are three areas that need to be directly addressed regarding ethical priorities.

Taxes. Perhaps nothing represents a Christian businessperson’s spiritual values more clearly than that person’s attitude toward paying taxes.

No one likes to pay taxes, but to cheat on income taxes or any other tax is stealing—a sin that separates us from God.
Fraud. In today’s society it is shocking to realize how many Christians and Christian businesspeople accept fraud and dishonesty as normal. The most common business fraud (not including tax fraud) is against insurance companies and medical health providers.

These are followed by fraud associated with over-billing or double billing, overcharging, warranty fraud, reverse shipping charges, and selling outdated or inferior products.
Misuse of company time and property. Most owners cannot be held accountable for the misuse of company time. This is related more to employees who do not give their employers a complete day’s work or perform personal tasks on company time. According to God’s principles, this is stealing from the employer. Nevertheless, many times owners are guilty of using company materials for personal use.

Each year American businesses lose $160 billion to employee theft. A portion of this is owner theft. Although owners tend to believe they can treat company assets as their own personal property, until current law agrees with that perspective, asset misuse by owners is still unacceptable.

Some of the most common areas of misuse are personal use of a company vehicle; long distance calls on company telephone; company stamps for personal use; and the use of company computers, copy machines, fax machines, pens, pencils, and paper for personal use.

Conclusion
“He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out” (Proverbs 10:9). Although some Christian business owners have financial priorities, many are not in line with God’s Word.

All professing Christian business owners need to establish not only financial priorities but also time use and ethical standards as well. Realizing that God is always watching and is always attentive to our every action and decision should be a constant reminder that Christian owners must be led by God’s directive and the principles of His Word.

By Crown Financial Ministries

Any business generally reflects the values of its principle owners or managers. It is the reflection of these values that determines whether a business is labeled Christian or non-Christian.

If a business is to be used to serve God, it should have but one overriding purpose—to glorify Him. As such, there are five basic business functions that, together, constitute the activities of a Christian business: (1) evangelizing; (2) discipling; (3) funding God’s work; (4) providing for needs; and (5) generating profits.

As a means of funding God’s work, many Christian business owners or managers have chosen to give a tithe from the business.

Scriptural justification
The principle of tithing from a business is not dramatically different from tithing out of personal income. Actually, most Scriptures on giving in the Old Testament deal with business-generated income, since few people were actually employees in the sense they are today.

The vast majority of people in Old Testament times were employed in agriculture, as were most Americans prior to the 1950s. The precedent for tithing from a business is clear in God’s Word: “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce” (Proverbs 3:9).

In the Old Testament the Hebrew people brought approximately 23 percent of their increase to the Lord’s storehouse. The keepers of the storehouse, the Levites, in turn used what was given to care for the widows, needy foreigners in the area, orphans, and the Levites.

In the New Testament, no longer did the people bring their tithes and offerings to a physical storehouse. Instead they gave of their increase in tithes, offerings, and alms to the church body. In turn, the church used the tithe for spreading the Gospel. The offerings were used for the general and administrative support of the church, and the alms were used to care for the poor, widows, orphans, and otherwise needy.

The Scriptures seem to imply that the tithe's purpose is to be a testimony of God's ownership, and thus it is meant to be individualized.

It was never intended that everyone or every business should give the same amount or in the same way but that each should give bountifully and cheerfully (see 2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

Giving should come from our hearts. For that reason, the tithe should not be considered a “law” but, rather, as an indicator of obedience to God’s laws.

This seems to be confirmed in the book of Malachi: the prophet confronted the Jews with their sins of disobedience, using their lack of tithing as an example.

Tithe on gross or net?
It was the great 19th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon, while addressing a home missions inaugural conference at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in south London in 1889, who said, “In all of my years of service to my Lord, I have discovered a truth that has never failed and has never been compromised. That truth is that it is beyond the realm of possibilities that one has the ability to out give God. Even if I give the whole of my worth to Him, He will find a way to give back to me much more than I gave.”

Because it is impossible to out give God, it becomes a moot point to question whether a business should tithe on gross or net profits. “By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides” (Mark 4:24).

If a business strongly believes in honoring God from the increase He provides, that business should consider tithing from the gross profits and trust that God will provide what is needed after the business pays any creditors and the other expenses.

Many times business profits are tied up in noncash assets, such as building, equipment, stocks, or product. An answer to the tithing question that some Christians businesses have chosen to follow is to give a partial ownership in the business as a tithe. So, as the business prospers, so does the Lord’s portion.

Although there is a biblical admonition to give from the firstfruits, or the increase of the business, a business should not give from the portion that belongs to any creditors or any employees.

Business tithes should be given from business profit after overhead expenses, employees’ salaries, and creditors have been paid. Each employer should then tithe on the amount they receive as a salary.

Corporation tithing
Corporations, unlike businesses, are usually owned by a conglomerate of people from all walks of life and different religious beliefs.

Since one person usually does not own all the stock in a corporation, an individual might consider giving a tenth of the increase in his or her individual stock in the corporation to the Lord.

An alternative method might be to take one-tenth of the company stock and set up a Christian foundation with it, then set a goal to control the company’s future growth and declare the dividends to God’s work.

Conclusion
Individuals as well as businesses should look for ways to give, rather than trying to find ways to prevent or hinder giving, remembering always that God is more interested in our hearts than in any actual gift amount.

There is an admonition in God’s Word to give from our firstfruits, or the increase. This would apply to business as well as personal income.

However, a business owner must remember that the business tithe should be only on the profits that belong to the business, not on what rightfully belongs to creditors, stockholders, employees, or others.

By Crown Financial Ministries

A well-known business periodical recently said, “Debt doesn’t have to be a four-letter word for businesses. Borrowing money is a safe and easy, natural, respectable, time-honored tradition for financing business operating capital, expansion, the purchase of equipment, building up inventory, and to even-out cash flow. In fact, it is the most logical means of financing business and business operations in America.”

Safe, natural, easy, time-honored, and respectable—does it sound almost too good to be true?

It was the great 19th century British author, Charles Dickens, who said, “It has been my experience that if a thing sounds too good to be true, likely it is.” When determining whether businesses should borrow, it might be wise to heed Mr. Dickens’ admonishment.

Biblically prohibited?
Many Christians feel that all borrowing is prohibited according to Romans 13:8, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”

In order to interpret this Scripture properly, it must be considered in light of the context in which it appears. In this particular reference Paul was teaching that we are never to allow someone to do something for us if we are unwilling to do even more for him or her.

Scripture very clearly says that neither borrowing nor lending is prohibited, but firm guidelines are given.

Borrowing is discouraged and, in fact, every biblical reference to it is a negative one. “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave” (Proverbs 22:7).

Although Scripture shows that we are to be cautious about borrowing and it should never be normal, when you look at today’s society you find that borrowing is rampant.

This generation thinks it is normal to borrow for periods of 30 years or more, thus creating a society that borrows to exist.

In essence, this generation has come to practice Proverbs 22:7 as no generation has since the early 1930s. That is not God’s way.

God’s Word says that borrowing is a consequence of ignoring His statutes and commandments (see Deuteronomy 28:43-45). Borrowing is never God's best for His people or for businesses owned or managed by His people.

Business borrowing principles
There are three fundamental scriptural principles related to business borrowing: borrowing should only be occasional, avoid signing surety on a loan, and stay out of long-term debt.

Borrowing should only be occasional. Typical Christian businesspeople are as deeply in debt as typical nonChristians, and it is unlikely that either have real goals for becoming debt free. Consequently, both are totally vulnerable to any downturn in the economy.

Since debt makes it very difficult for businesses, especially new businesses, to break even, Christian business owners and managers must use extreme caution regarding borrowing to start new ventures, to maintain cash flow and operations capital in existing businesses, or for expansion.

If God wants new businesses to develop or existing businesses to succeed, He will provide a way to fund them without jeopardizing their future by borrowing.

It is very important for business owners to count the cost and pray for the Lord's direction. So many Christian businesspeople have found themselves in trouble simply because they were impatient and chose not to wait for God’s provision.

Be patient and allow Him to work out all monetary needs in His time.

Avoid signing surety on a loan. The dictionary definition of surety is “the pledge or formal promise made to secure against a loss, damage or default; guarantee or security.”

In biblical times it was not unusual for borrowers to pledge their only asset of any value, themselves, as guarantee to repay a loan.

If they failed to pay according to the agreed-upon terms, they forfeited their freedom and perhaps even the freedom of their families.

In America today we no longer put debtors in prison or sell their families as slaves for failure to repay a debt, but the creditors still have a legal and ethical right to collect what has been borrowed or recover whatever property has been pledged as surety or collateral.

Stay out of long-term debt. In an era of 30- and 40-year mortgages, avoiding long-term debt may sound impossible.

Nevertheless long-term debt is a relatively new idea. There is no way our grandfathers or even many of our fathers would have assumed debts that extended for three or four decades, because they knew that if they stayed in debt long enough they would eventually be financially devastated.

The use of long-term credit can easily cloud business owners’ and managers’ view of God’s direction.

Although Scripture contains no indication that God ever directed anyone through the use of a loan, credit, or debt, often Christian businesspeople whose businesses are in financial trouble attempt to sustain themselves by borrowing through long-term credit, and in many of these instances borrowing becomes a substitute for trusting God.

The use of borrowed money generally provides a false sense of security that allows a correctable situation to grow into an out-of-control problem, and businesses find themselves so far in debt that recovery is impossible.

“The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on, and are punished for it” (Proverbs 22:3). Borrowing merely delays necessary decisions; it does not avoid them.

When it is time to quit
Business bondage comes in many forms, from preoccupation with debt-related problems to over-dedication to work, and is characterized by a lack of realistic business guidelines, goals, or purposes.

Perhaps it can be defined best as anything relating to businesses that interferes with our relationship to God or our families and is out of balance according to God’s Word.

If bondage is dominant in businesses, it might be wise to reconsider the need for maintaining the businesses.

If businesses are continuing to build more debt or are continually borrowing more money just to stay in business, it also could be time to call it quits.

When owners and managers can’t go to sleep at night because they’re thinking about business problems, when they get up to study God's Word and nothing comes to mind but business problems, or when they pray and nothing comes to mind but business problems, it could be time to sell.

Indeed, God may want struggling businesses to increase once they move beyond their present debt or cash flow crisis. On the other hand, God may be using the situation to move owners or managers into new areas He has planned for them.

God’s Word says that none that wait upon Him shall be ashamed. He has promised to direct our steps, even when we feel confused. "I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them and rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, and I will not leave them undone" (Isaiah 42:16).

Christian businesspeople who are victims of business bondage should surround themselves with mature godly people who can pray with them, exhort and encourage them, and give them wise Spirit-led counsel.

Conclusion
Most businesses are run on credit today. In fact, the use of borrowed capital is so widespread that many businesspeople believe they cannot operate their businesses on a cash basis, which is untrue. The long-range goal of all Christian businesspeople should be to become debt free.

God never promised quick growth; He promised a solid foundation. “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built” (Luke 6:48).

There has never been a generation of people so addicted to borrowed money as ours. At some point God’s people must break out of the debt trap and become lenders again, rather than borrowers. It’s never too late to change bad habits and attitudes. The sooner we start, the easier it will be.

Shopping Cart

Sum total:	0.00 AUD
Go to cart

Postage Cost

Please note that a postage cost will apply in addition to the amount quoted in the checkout.

Articles

More Articles...

Shopping Cart

Postage Cost