A business empire that loses its way

Solomon’s narrative goes to the heart of a vital tension in Kingdom business, which is how we balance economic outcomes with kingdom progress

The Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21) is a parable that limits how far we should pursue the business of making money for its own sake – although Jesus’ initial aim in telling it was to stop us worrying about our possessions or lack of them.
 
The central character’s success probably owed more to chance than business skill, but he gets so focused on the bonus crop that he blights his soul. We are shocked to find that the man who thought he had everything had nothing at all.
 
There is story in Scripture about an entrepreneurial king whose wealth was turned to great good in the first instance but ultimately contributed to his undoing. Solomon’s narrative goes to the heart of a vital tension in Kingdom business, which is how we balance economic outcomes with kingdom progress.
 
It's a conflict that Jesus is all too aware of, with his teaching on serving two masters (Matthew 6:24). Moreover, although people talk about triple bottom lines and balanced scorecards, it's exceptionally difficult to have more than one goal and to balance each fairly against the others. Our experience at work is that balanced scorecards are popular when business is booming, but companies focus singularly on the bottom line when times get tough.
 
The start of Solomon’s reign was relatively prosperous, founded on his father's legacy of military success and the tribute that flowed as a result, not to mention his ability to leverage slave labour from the surrounding nations. In a remarkable vision God offers the young King a wish, and Solomon opts for wisdom.
 
In this early example of a knowledge economy, Solomon is soon trading in timber and livestock and weaponry and gold (1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:26-29), as he turns his country into a regional innovation hub.
 
Although Moses had warned against some of the activities and the lifestyle that Solomon adopts (Deuteronomy 17:14-19), to begin with the fruit of this enterprise is invested in realising his father's grand dream of building a permanent home for the most holy place: the Temple. The detailed descriptions and the expensive materials used, echo and amplify the narrative of the building of the Tabernacle, as does the account of the glory that comes down and fills the place.
 
With increasing wealth, Solomon can contemplate even grander projects (1 Kings 7:1-10), and the visibility of his wealth leads to more exotic imports: wives and concubines and the deities they worship, and eventually to building centres for cultic practice.
 
At first, it doesn't seem to matter. Solomon is aware that his wealth comes from God and he is active in his worship of God. However, mission creep has set in and in later life we read that his heart was turned (1 Kings 11:1-8). The upshot is that, while Solomon lived out his days in splendour, his successor lost a huge slice of the Kingdom, and the renegade tribes established a new capital in Samaria, which became the grander regional presence in time.
 
The rich fool and the paradigm of wealth creation matter for two reasons. The first reason is that it is a message for the kingdom entrepreneur. These are the business leaders whose aim is to enable employees to provide for their families,  to do their own giving and determine their own destinies. This isn’t done from the personal charity of the business owner but is a Kingdom goal of the business itself.
 
The cautionary tale is that business development can become an end in itself. The next project or the next alliance can come to mean more than the original aim. At first, we may continue to talk the same language and to give to the same causes, but one day we wake up and discover that our heart is in a different place. Noble business purpose gets gradually eroded by creeping secularism. 
 
The second reason why this matters so much is because of the theology around prosperity that has grown up alongside the explosive economic success of our era. Once we accept that for most of us life is not about subsistence farming but about making the most of the abundant opportunities, we can start to see economic success as part of our Christian birthright. We start to read material acquisition back into God's promises of blessing, and to believe but the holier we are the richer we will be in material terms.
 
We're not arguing that God can't bless us materially as well as in other ways. We're simply saying that the path between a drive for Kingdom outcomes and the drive for self-aggrandisement is probably much narrower than any of us realise.
 
As authors, we are committed to elevating the role of business and enterprise in Christian thinking. It’s a sphere of life about which many Christians are cautious and even sceptical. We believe there is enormous potential for making a positive difference in the world through business but we have not lost sight of the danger signs about the place, either.
 
Christians in business can have a positive impact through their personal witness but it may not be as big as the impact the business itself can have through its scale and leverage. For that to happen the overall purpose of the business needs to be anchored to achieving Kingdom outcomes and not blown off course. It didn’t work for Solomon. It went wrong in the parable. Our prayer is that more and more Kingdom businesses will stay the course.


Image | Austin Distel | Unsplash

This blog is part of a series that links Bible characters with people in parables to see if their stories fill in a picture of what a ‘Kingdom Business’ might look like. The series is looking for fresh insights for business leaders who want to see Kingdom outcomes as well as sustainable business success.

Details of all five blogs are below.
 

• What might a Kingdom business look like? - business at the heart of mission through the example of Lydia (publishes 29 January)
• God’s project manager - Nehemiah who prayed and planned ahead - and is an example of what godly project management could look like (publishes 31 January)
• A business empire that loses its way - Solomon’s narrative goes to the heart of a vital tension in Kingdom business, which is how we balance economic outcomes with evangelistic progress (publishes 2 February)
• Employing the whole person - How the vineyard owner and David were ahead of their time in looking beyond the work done (publishes 5 February)
• What might a Kingdom business look like? A discussion - The final part of the series offers two ways to reflect on Lydia, Nehemiah, Solomon and David as exemplars in business (publishes 7 February)

Phil Hanson is an engineer by profession. For the latter part of a 30 year career in IBM, he was Lead Principal for IBM’s Manufacturing Industry Consulting Practice. Since IBM, he has been Principal Industrial Fellow at the Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge University and a Special Advisor to UNIDO for supply chain projects in Africa. He is ordained in the Church of England.

Terry Young is a missionary kid who read science and engineering. After a PhD in lasers, he worked in R&D before becoming a professor, when he taught project management, information systems and e-business, while leading research in healthcare. He set up Datchet Consulting to have fun with both faith and work and worshipped at Baptist churches in Slough for 19 years before moving to the New Forest.

Terry and Phil's new book How to Merge Kingdom and Business -The Most Excellent Way has just been published by Grove Books

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