1. Being a Christian in work is being of service. Following Jesus Christ in our work means being of service because Jesus is the Servant who came into the world to serve but not to be served, and who has shown Himself to be a perfect servant to us.¹⁷⁴ Work is a service, whether paid or unpaid. We are servants in our work. By serving humanity, we serve God.¹⁷⁵ We work in the service of God.¹⁷⁶ Service is the active form of love.¹⁷⁷ Serving with love is the consequence of faith.¹⁷⁸ When we serve people because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we are serving Jesus.¹⁷⁹ From the Holy Spirit we receive the heart, wisdom, and strength to be service-oriented in our work.
2. Being service-oriented in our work means that we put other people’s interests before ours. God gave us everything, so why should we be self-centered in our work? During His life on earth, Jesus was completely in the service of others and never had Himself in mind, so why should we? Jesus came to earth to serve; therefore, we live on earth to serve. When we put our individual interests above those of other people, we have made our own interests our god. Opportunism, selfishness, and egotism in our work do not fit with following Jesus in our work because we are then following our self-interest.¹⁸⁰
3. Being service-oriented in our work means that we see each person as a unique human being created by God. If we see another human being as an obstacle to overcome, a means to get what we want, or just neutral objects with which we must deal, then we cannot serve the other person because we put ourselves above them and thereby say to God that we consider ourselves more important than other human beings He also created.
4. Being service-oriented in our work means focusing not on being better than another but on doing good for another. Serving is about giving instead of taking, engaging instead of disengaging, granting instead of gaining, sharing instead of acquiring. If we are servants in our work, then we are fully focused on the interest of the other person, truly inclined to serve them.¹⁸¹
5. Being service-oriented in our work means sacrificing ourselves.¹⁸² We are all priests who are called to sacrifice¹⁸³ and thereby follow Jesus who sacrificed himself completely for us. Sacrifice means offering our time, talents, and energy to God in our work, effacing ourselves, giving up our own agenda, needs, and interests.¹⁸⁴
6. Being service-oriented in our work means that we treat the other as a full human being, as a creation of God, created in His image. This excludes suppressing,¹⁸⁵ extorting,¹⁸⁶ blackmailing, undermining, subverting, belittling, denouncing, or even exterminating. Intimidation and manipulation are also unworthy of man and therefore unworthy of God. Whoever dishonors a person dishonors his maker, namely God.¹⁸⁷ That is why God considers it so bad when people are abused, corrupted, and raped in their work.
7. Being service-oriented in our work means that we reject child labor. That God as Father allows us as His children to work does not mean that we should allow children to work for us.
8. Being service-oriented in our work means that we make products and provide services that serve others. The value of our work comes not from putting in the hours but from the extent to which our goods or services serve others. Serving the neighbor is not doing what the neighbor desires but doing what they need; it is about what is good for the other rather than what the other wants. Therefore, products and services should meet actual and legitimate needs of people. Products and services that respond to greed or even stimulate them have no place here;¹⁸⁸ neither do products and services that increase instead of relieve people’s burdens, that put people in distress or make them addicted.¹⁸⁹ Offering unsafe and unhealthy products and services is not helpful either.
9. Being service-oriented in our work means we make products and provide services that serve God. We resemble God but we should not imagine ourselves to be God or play God in our work. There is no room for technologies that aim to perfect life or to be omnipresent and omniscient like God. Neither is there room for products and services that encourage or profit from a way of life that is diametrically opposed to the Christian way of life. We must guard against the promotion of materialism, hedonism, and consumerism.
10. Being service-oriented in our work means bringing out the best in others. God seeks the best in us, so if we are His instrument, we should also bring out the best in others. In so doing, we activate and actualize the dignity of another.
11. Being service-oriented in our work means that when we are leaders, we are servant-leaders. We follow Jesus by being leaders in our work. Jesus is the servant-leader par excellence.¹⁹⁰ That Jesus chose to lead His disciples means that Christians may also choose to lead in their work. Following Jesus as a leader means serving those we lead. Jesus is a model for leaders: He worked with His disciples, He inspired, taught, and cared for them, gave them their own responsibilities, trusted, protected, and corrected them, and He bore the final responsibility.
12. Being service-oriented in our work means that we put our power in our work at the service of God and humanity. Power is not a free pass but a responsibility. God is a role model on how to handle power in our work.¹⁹¹ God does not abuse His monopoly position. He is not narcissistic or power-hungry, but He continues to seek us out and offer grace. We have our power to harness under God’s omnipotence. Even when we have so much power, we are all servants of God.¹⁹²
13. Being service-oriented in our work means that we are subservient to the people we employ. Just as God created a world in which people can achieve their full potential, so should employers create a work environment in which the employees can achieve their full potential. This means that employees are not encouraged to sin but to be provided with good working conditions¹⁹³ such as good pay,¹⁹⁴ safe working conditions, ample opportunities for development, and meaningful work. If it was God’s will to protect Israel from exploitation, even slavery, what does God expect followers of Jesus Christ to do for those who suffer the same oppression, or worse, today?
14. Being service-oriented in our work means doing ample volunteer work. By volunteering generously, we show that God wants to work through us not only if it is paid or necessary work. By volunteering for others, we refer to all the work that Jesus voluntarily did for us. Commercialization and economization of volunteer work is at odds with this.
15. Being service-oriented in our work means that we give others room to serve us. We must allow service so others can serve. Serving and being served are two sides of the same coin.
16. Being service-oriented in our work means that we are not under the spell of money, goods, gains, and authorities. Avarice, greed, and selfishness hinder serving God¹⁹⁵ and humanity. God does not love being half-hearted.¹⁹⁶ He is Himself whole. Jesus says, for a reason, that by serving Mammon we cannot serve God. It is one or The Other. When we are in danger of becoming obsessed with money, we may think of the money, the currency, with which Jesus set us free.¹⁹⁷ When we are in danger of becoming obsessed with possessions, we may think of Jesus who left all His possessions for us. When we are in danger of becoming obsessed with ourselves, we may think of Jesus who freed us from ourselves by giving up Himself.

---

---

Questions

1. Which Bible verse about being service-oriented do I find particularly appealing and provides guidance for what being service-oriented in work means (to me)?
2. To what extent do I agree with the above summary of what being service-oriented in work means?
3. Are there any missing elements in the above list of what being service-oriented in work means? If so, which ones?
4. How would I personally describe what being service-oriented in work means for Christians?
5. How would I describe concretely what being service-oriented in work means for me?
6. To what extent do I subscribe to the idea that being service-oriented is an important characteristic/virtue for Christians in their work?
7. To what extent do I subscribe to the idea that being service-oriented is an important guideline/principle for the behavior of Christians in their work?
8. To what extent is being service-oriented an important virtue and principle for me in my work?
9. How do I experience the importance of being service-oriented in my work?
10. Do I work to bring about service-orientation? Do I do so wholeheartedly?
11. To what extent can I be service-oriented in my work?
12. How often have I recently brought service-orientation to my work?
13. How service-oriented do I do my work? How does it show?
14. To what extent do I use being service-oriented as a principle for my behavior in my work? Could I illustrate this using the decisions I have recently made in my work?
15. When I look back at my working life, could I say that I have increasingly become more service-oriented in my behavior?
16. To what extent do people I work with think I am service-oriented in my work? What have they said to me about this?
17. To what extent do I think God thinks I am service-oriented in my work?
18. How can I become more service-oriented in my work? How would I do this concretely?
19. Which elements of being service-oriented am I going to bring more of in my next working day?
20. What am I going to say in a prayer to God about being service-oriented in work?