Jesus ran His business from the market place

Jesus was a CEO. Despite the teachings that He came to establish a new religion, the reality was that He came and successfully established Himself as a businessman. It was through His business relationships that He performed ministry. Consider this ... if you ask me where I work and I say a church, more than likely, you will assume that I am involved with religion. If on the other hand, I say I work in the business world (what would have been called the market place in the past) you are more likely to consider me as a businessman rather than a religious leader.

As Christ entered into the period most often referred to as His earthly ministry, an examination of where and how He spent his time should be telling. Consider these facts about the time Jesus spent after His consecration by John the Baptist:

• New Testament – Of Jesus’ 132 public appearances, 122 were in the marketplace
• Of 52 parables Jesus told, 45 had a workplace context.
• Of 40 divine interventions recorded in Acts, 39 were in the marketplace.
• Jesus called 12 workplace individuals, not clergy, to build His church.
• Work is Worship - The Hebrew word "Avodah" is root for word from which we get the words work and worship.
• Work in its different forms is mentioned more than 800 times in the Bible, more than all the words used to express worship, music, praise, and singing combined.

Based on this data, it is reasonable to consider Jesus more as a business man and less as a religious leader. This data also points out the value God places on our work and our work place. Finally, if workplace ministry was good enough for Jesus, shouldn't it be a focal point of our business efforts on a daily basis?

* Source: Os Hillman, International Coalition of Workplace Ministries, www.icwm.net

Jesus built His business in three years.

We understand that Jesus' earthly ministry took place over a period of about three years. Most people see this time as spent launching a world-wide religion; however, I would suggest to you that He spent the time building His world-wide corporation!



As pointed out previously, Jesus was the CEO of a successful carpentry business (see http://jesuswasaceo.blogspot.com/2008/07/jesus-was-ceo.html) before His consecration by John the Baptist. After the consecration Jesus holds a planning retreat in the Wilderness for forty days. It is here that He develops His business plan. Over the next three years, we can follow his efforts to recruit and then train his staff to accomplish the boldest business strategy ever conceived. During this time period His new staff is trained in the business of bring God's presence to the lives of those over whom they have influence. This process included recruiting, training, marketing, product fulfillment, and always, always staying on message. Jesus was always about explaining the value proposition of His business ... becoming right with God.




And just look at the success of His efforts. After 2000 years the brand is still going strong. It continues to service millions of satisfied customers across thousands of franchise outlets. It is the focus of weekly and monthly meetings, training, books, movies, lectures, and seminars. There are still people who daily put their lives on the line for this organization! And this proposition is still changing lives today!

This is certainly an unconventional way to view the church ... but one that has some merit. Many people today have sunk to the view of the church as a building or an organization. The Bible tells us that the Church is the body of believers. Your business is not an organization ... it is the body of people - employees and their families, customers, vendors, and associates - who breathe life into your value proposition. Over a series of chats, let's examine the methods Jesus used to build His church. I believe that His methods can offer some insight as to how you as a CEO can build your own business today.

Jesus was a CEO

For most people in our society, whether they hold to the view of Jesus as the Son of God (and for some, their personal Savior) or not - they tend to view Jesus as a religious leader. Have you ever considered that Jesus was a successful CEO (Chief Executive Officer)? We know from the scriptures that He was known within the region as a carpenter. In Mark 6:3 in identifying Jesus, they asked "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?"(MKJV).



To be so known, he must have had a fairly significant business. In the absence of Joseph, Jesus apparently provided for His mother, brothers and sisters through His carpentry work. Think about this for a moment. Jesus ran a successful business. He purchased materials, he carried inventory, he paid salaries, coordinated shipping and deliveries - I imagine He even had to do some marketing - although I bet the word of mouth traffic was great! Come to think of it, even though His work was perfect, I bet some of his customers still complained ... so I imagine He even handles customer complaints.



Imagine, the Son of God, the Creative force of the universe, performed the exact same tasks you deal with on a daily basis. He understands, in the most intimate way, the feelings of obligation and responsibility that you carry when others are depending on you for their livelihood, or the products to sustain their businesses, or for you to pay for the materials or services they supplied to you. He not only knows... He understands ... He did it too, probably for fifteen years!



Now, if Jesus was so good at running His business, how much do you think He can help you be successful at yours?