Are You on the Right Path?

The term “kingdom business” is common today, it was pioneered by a small group over 40 years ago when it was not a “category.” Today, many Christians in the marketplace are engaged in what has become a movement, and in a movement, it is easy to come by the language of the genre without moving into its reality. So it's crucial to understand the different paths one can take – and the dangers that lie on some of them. Many years ago, my brother said to me, “The problem is that you are teaching Promised Land principles to people who want to stay in Egypt.”

This blog draws from a recent podcast where I shared about the "Judas Syndrome," drawing lessons from the life of Judas Iscariot. Scripture makes a shocking statement: Satan entered Judas. But this was not as a sudden fall, but a predictable decline that offers profound insights for modern businesspeople - https://pod.co/brett-johnson-1/223-3-kingdom-paths-avoiding-the-judas-syndrome-with-brett-johnson

The Predictable Decline of Judas

Judas's journey began when he approached Jesus to join the group. Appearing more financially savvy than the other disciples, who were mostly fishermen, he was appointed treasurer – essentially the CFO or asset manager of the group. He was also responsible for managing funds for the poor.

However, despite his position, Judas was greedy and often stole money from the bag he managed. He masked this greed with a facade of compassion, famously objecting to Mary pouring out expensive oil, demanding that the money should have gone to the poor. This was a cover-up as he didn't truly care for the poor, but was a thief. His colleagues didn't question him because he was "the finance guy."

A critical lesson from Judas is this: his natural gift for finance was not sanctified. Instead, he brought his "old operating model" or "modus operandi" into the new context of following Jesus, but didn’t transition to kingdom principles. Just as one doesn't put new wine into old wineskins, a kingdom business cannot operate effectively using a secular operating model. Many educated professionals entering "kingdom business" risk bringing their old ways of thinking and operating, using kingdom jargon like "human flourishing" and "glory of God" without fundamentally changing their core business model. In the podcast, I mention a telling observation I had when speaking with a "Christian company." This highlights a common issue in the marketplace movement today.

When I examined the operating model, I said to the Chief Spiritual Officer, as he called himself, “So apart from this and that, you're no different than the Pagan company down the road.” He was shocked.

Judas had an expectation that Jesus would be a political and economic deliverer, freeing them from Rome's yoke. He saw the potential for scale and growth, like a shrewd businessperson. But as time went on, things didn't pan out as he expected, and he became offended. While he might have loved Jesus and the disciples, he probably loved himself and money more, and he didn't buy into the fact that the kingdom of God operates differently.

His offense led him to choose "mammon over Jesus." As a smart business guy, he then approached the Pharisees, recognizing their need to get rid of Jesus. He executed a clear sales process: identified their need, offered a solution (delivering Jesus), and secured a prepayment of 30 pieces of silver.

The self-deception in Judas's life was profound, starting with small acts of stealing and escalating to judging Mary for her worship. Even at the Last Supper, when Jesus revealed his betrayer, Judas feigned innocence, asking, "Surely I'm not the one you're talking about, am I?". When Jesus gave him the bread, a symbol of fellowship, Satan entered Judas, marking the culmination of his predictable decline. He went out into the night, both physically and spiritually.

Three Paths in Kingdom Business Today

The Judas Syndrome highlights a crucial caution for us businesspeople who are attracted to Jesus but struggle with changing our established ways. When challenged to transform our operating model from a "Babylonian system" to a "kingdom of God's system," we tend to fall into three categories.

1. Path A: The Comfortable Conformist
• This is the largest group. They love Jesus and the idea of kingdom business, but they don't want their operating model fully transformed.
• They pretend not to understand Jesus's call for radical change, preferring to join Christian groups that don't stretch their thinking and practices too much.
• They might tithe, donate, or serve on church boards, but they avoid initiatives that require them to "leave town" or "play away games."
• Their business purpose is simply "to glorify God," donate some money, and be ethical without fundamentally altering their operations.
• Like Peter, who wanted Jesus out of his boat, they want Jesus in their lives, but not to "change the operating model of my business."
• Abraham's father, Terah, serves as an example, settling halfway to his destination rather than completing God's call. "The Broad road, the comfortable road, the easy to follow, the good coffee and donuts road is Group A...".
2. Path B: The Offended Betrayer
• Judas is the "patron saint" of this group. These individuals get offended when God doesn't meet their expectations.
• They might think following Jesus means guaranteed revenue increases or an absence of problems, and they get disillusioned when it proves costly or difficult.
• They cling to the "MBA way" or "professional way" as superior to "the Father's way," often buying into secularism that separates God and business.
• When things don't work out as expected, they question the kingdom's operating model, become self-righteous, and choose their own way over God's. This path, like Judas's, leads to destruction.
3. Path C: The Transformed Disciple
• This group learns from Jesus and undergoes transformation. They embrace Jesus's "upside-down kingdom," which often contrasts with conventional business school teachings.
• Every challenge becomes an opportunity to grow, change, and renew their thinking, rather than taking offense.
• They believe God is good all the time, even amidst troubles, understanding that Jesus promised both life and trouble.
• They are committed to change, consecrated, and continuously growing in steps of obedience.
• They understand the threefold commission: to disciple ethnos (people groups), reconcile cosmos (ordered world, systems like banking or education), and reach eschatos, which we find in Acts 1:8. We understand people groups, and perhaps we understand the transformation of whole spheres or sectors (though I would argue we avoid this is being too grandiose), but do we understand “eschatos” other than geographically? Often, the last thing to be touched, the lowest places to be reached, the things furthest away from Jesus’ way are our core business practices. They are often “farthest, final (of place or time):—ends of, last, latter end, lowest, uttermost” when it comes to kingdom transformation.

"If your sales cycle is out of order. If your product development cycle doesn't include hearing God and what he has to say, if your marketing doesn't include the miraculous, if your business purpose doesn't include the nations, it's probably not a kingdom business." 

• For this group, a true kingdom business must have a purpose that includes the nations, aligning with God's desire for people from every tongue, tribe, and nation to know Him. It must also seek to reconcile things which can be ordered, and it must reach to the furthest, both geographically and systemically.

Choosing Your Path

The broad, comfortable road is Path A, but the "called out ones" are on Path C. We are challenged not to settle for the comfort of Path A and not get offended and end up in Path B, but instead, be part of Path C. This means following Jesus even when it's costly and you don't fully understand, allowing your heart to keep changing and growing. It means embracing a “great commission” that goes beyond people, includes remote locations, and importantly, does not shrink from every facet of the operating model (that which brings order and can be ordered) into alignment with God.

Our job is far from done. To give Jesus the return on investment He deserves, we must be willing, ready, and prepared to rise to His challenge, avoiding everyday mediocrity. Which path will you choose for your business? I encourage you to listen to the podcast for a deeper dive into this topic.