Does Holiness matter at work?
You’ve heard it before…
A reporter from a prominent big city publication was suspended, investigated, and subsequently fired for behaving in a sexual manner at work time during a Zoom call.
A Human Resources manager was fired from her Human Resources position at a Fortune 500 company for lying on her resume, as the company discovered her lie seven months after they hired her.
A popular mega-church worship leader was fired from a multi-thousand-person church because it emerged that his divorce was not finalized when he entered into a relationship with another person, effectively lying to the church and concealing an affair.
Or how about this? “That’s just how I talk at work. I’m not like that at church.” Or, “Yeah, I’ve got a co-worker who goes to church on Sundays but flirts with women at conferences and takes them up to his room. It’s awkward. I don’t know what to do or say, so I say nothing.”
“Well, Pastor, I have my work life, my home life, and my church life. And no one needs to know about all of it.”
All of these are real events or real conversations I’ve had with people in the last couple of years.
Does Holiness behavior affect the workplace? For the believer in Jesus, yes, but for the unbeliever as well…yes.
Yet, many Christians do not subscribe to the concept of Holiness doctrine. Still, some claim that if you practice or believe in the concept of Holiness doctrines, you must be guilty of something yourself, or you must be hiding something, and “It’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out!” Some Christians who come from outside of holiness church traditions look with disdain on their brothers and sisters in Christ who believe in the concepts of Holiness. They judge them as “cult-like” or “Holier than thou,” etc. Saying they would never go to a “church like that.” Sometimes, images come up in people’s minds of women with no makeup, hair done up in buns, ankle-length dresses, and only speaking or reading from certain Bible translations or domineering, controlling men.
What is Holiness? It’s something that’s good for the believer and the nonbeliever alike. Secular sociologists might call these things ethics, morals, or character in the workplace. No one would ever say these things are bad. But when associated with a Godly motivation under “holiness,” suddenly people think it’s something to be made fun of.
Paul Tripp, in his blog on the Doctrine of Holiness, says it better than I can.
“Our translation for holiness comes from the Hebrew word qadowsh which means “to cut.” To be holy means to be cut off, or separate, from everything else. It means to be in a class of your own, distinct from anything that has ever existed or will ever exist. Qadowsh means a second thing: to be holy means to be entirely morally pure, all the time and in every way possible.”
So, Holiness in the workplace would be to cut away and separate from the “normal” moral behavior of the average person and raise your level of understanding, character, ethics, and morality whenever possible -for Christians, this is part of their expression of worship and obedience to God.
How would this affect your workplace relations? Fewer affairs. Fewer people are fired for inappropriate behavior at work—little need for an HR department. Fewer people are lying on their timecards. No one takes credit for work they did not do. Few people strive to get ahead just to be better than other people and feed their own insecurity or inferiority and the Worship Pastor, the HR Manager and the reporter never lose their jobs.
The Assemblies of God (the fellowship I am ordained in) has sixteen fundamental truths. Number 9 is Sanctification.
It states:
Sanctification is an act of separation from that which is evil, and of dedication unto God.
- Romans 12:1,2
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23
- Hebrews 13:12
The Scriptures teach a life of “holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.”
- Hebrews 12:14
By the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to obey the command: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.”
- 1 Peter 1:15,16
Sanctification is realized in the believer by recognizing his identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, and by the faith reckoning daily upon the fact of that union, and by offering every faculty continually to the dominion of the Holy Spirit.
- Romans 6:1-11
- Romans 6:13
- Romans 8:1,2
- Romans 8:13
- Galatians 2:20
- Philippians 2:12,13
- 1 Peter 1:5
Can you identify just one or two areas you can take a step with regarding Holiness?
By the way, that doesn’t mean you are a holy roller, hypocrite, or have something to hide. But it might mean that next year, you won’t get fired from your job because you did the right thing and had a higher understanding of character, morality and ethics.
Truth pays dividends: My foster brother spent decades as a framing contractor. For the most part, he never had a hard time finding work. Why? He worked hard, he did a good job, and he applied holiness to his work life. General contractors, inspectors and homeowners knew my brother would never lie to them. And so consequently, he always had employers and employees. If you did something wrong and you said, “The sheetrock will cover it up.” My brother would make you tear it out and redo it. “I will know, you will know, and God will know.” He would say. “Do it right.” These people were depending on us to build their homes right.
Now, don’t you want a person like my foster brother John to build your home? How about handling your HR claim, your investment portfolio, and your medical tests? What about running your manufacturing plant or your taxes?
Well, someone wants a person like that doing your job at work too. A Holy person. Whether they realize it or not. So, take a step toward becoming that person.
Colossians 3:23-24 says 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Remember, Paul was writing to a church full of people who had sold themselves into slavery and were, for the most part, indentured servants.
There’s also another aspect of holiness. Holiness informs you when you are in a toxic work environment and helps you know when it’s time to go. What does that look like?
Chisom Obiokoye discusses this reality in his published LinkedIn article, The Unholy Alliance: Toxic Workplaces and Constructive Dismissal. Here’s an excerpt:
“In the realm of employment law, there exists an implicit expectation of mutual trust and confidence in every employment contract that an employer will not, without reasonable or proper cause, conduct itself in a manner calculated to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence between the employer and the employee. A breach of this mutual trust and confidence may expose employers to liabilities for constructive dismissal.
With the above in view, in the context of toxic workplaces, constructive dismissal occurs when an employee resigns because the employer’s behaviour has become intolerable or heinous, or the employer has made life so difficult that the employee has no choice but to resign. It also occurs when an employer makes life extremely difficult for an employee to frustrate the employee into resigning.”
When an employer acts like this, Holiness beliefs help inform the employee that it’s time to go and possibly even report the behavior of the company. Words like heinous, intolerable, difficult, or toxic never go with the concepts of Holiness. Notice that even though the article is written from a secular point of view, the title uses the concept of a religious theme with the word “UNHOLY” to get your attention understanding the author is addressing something seriously wrong in the workplace. Something UNHOLY.
Holiness matters at your workplace because holiness matters to God. It affects you, and affects your co-workers. So, take your next steps with God. You might be surprised at how much less guilt you carry at work when you are taking your lead from a Holiness perspective.
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Quotes taken from:
Paul Tripp, September 10, 2018, The Doctrine of Holiness, Paul Tripp Ministries Inc., https://www.paultripp.com/articles/posts/the-doctrine-of-holiness-article
Assemblies of God 16 Fundamental Truths, https://ag.org/Beliefs/Statement-of-Fundamental-Truths#9
Chisom Obiokoye, October 17, 2023, The Unholy Alliance: Toxic Workplaces and Constructive Dismissal, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unholy-alliance-toxic-workplaces-constructive-chisom-obiokoye-tvjrf/