[Jesus said,] “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different.”  (Matthew 20:25-26) 

When did being a good steward become synonymous with being cheap? If there’s anywhere that Christian leaders need to step away from traditional values and cut a new path, it’s right here. I’ve heard otherwise-wonderful Christian leaders discuss wage-and-benefit issues as if their employees were out to rip them off for every cent they had. 

When some of Jesus’ disciples griped because two of their own had requested special treatment, Jesus rebuked them. The world does things a certain way, he said, but “among you it will be different” (Matthew 20:26). Jesus was calling his followers to treat those who follow them in a fashion unlike conventional wisdom suggested they should. He was encouraging them—and us—to establish and operate by different standards. 

Despite this, far too many Christian leaders regularly march in lockstep with their non-believing colleagues. Instead of being magnanimous, they are miserly. To put it bluntly, when it comes to salaries, wages, and benefits, many Christian organizations and Christian business leaders are less than fair. 

Jesus promised his followers abundant life. And while he wasn’t referring to people’s paychecks when he made that promise, having a decent salary certainly doesn’t hurt. Are you contributing to the “abundance” of the people who look to you for their livelihood? 

God takes very seriously the idea of treating workers fairly. In Malachi 3:5 he lists those who cheat their employees in the same verse as sorcerers, adulterers, and liars. He says he will speak against those who cheat their workers. James writes, “The wages you held back [from your workers] cry out against you” (5:4). 

Cheating is nothing more than operating in a way that gives one an unfair or undeserved advantage, and only the most vile of employers would admit to purposely cheating their workers. But take a minute to consider the following scenarios: Are employees being cheated when:

• Managers repeatedly fail to conduct scheduled salary and performance reviews and delay potential salary adjustments?
• Employers withhold scheduled raises until employees come and ask for what was promised?
• Top managers are paid ten, twenty, or even one hundred times more than hourly workers?
• Three people are now required to do the work of five because of painful staff reductions?
• Worthy employees are denied deserved raises because the job market is tight and they can’t afford to leave and seek work elsewhere?
 
LEADERS LEAD 
Being different doesn’t mean being foolish. Jesus did not say, “Among you there will be some very unwise practices.” The issue is more about your attitude and approach to compensation than about the actual dollars. Paying people more than their work is worth or more than you can afford is not good for the long-term fiscal health of your organization, and God wants you to succeed in the task he’s given you. But perhaps it’s time to consider setting some new compensation standards in your organization. 

When you think about wages for employees, do you tend to pay them as much as you can afford to pay or as little as they’ll agree to? Think about God’s generosity toward you. Are you imitating him when it comes to paying your staff? 

Charles Dickens’s immortal curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge, is remembered for the turn-about he exhibited after being visited by three spirits. During his visit to Christmas Past, he looks on as his former employer, Mr. Fezziwig, prepares for a party on Christmas Eve. The spirit expresses to Scrooge a sense of wonder at how much happiness Fezziwig is able to bring his employees with “but a few pounds of your mortal money.” 

Scrooge responds, “He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count ’em up: what then? The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” 

LEADERSHIP RE:VISION 
It’s time for Christians in leadership positions to examine their attitudes toward wages from a new perspective. Followers of Christ should operate in the world but avoid conformity to the world’s lower standards. Too many of us look the other way when we’re confronted with biblical directives to follow God’s example of generosity. 

As an advocate for change in this area, I have participated in many executive sessions involving the discussion of wages and have heard otherwise godly men and women dismiss scriptural imperatives not to cheat workers with excuses that sound something like this: “I know what the Bible says, but this is business.” 
Can you imagine the reaction if someone tried to use a similar excuse about adultery? 

If God truly rewards those who sincerely seek him, do you think he might actually bless the Christian leader who seeks to emulate God’s generosity by stepping away from the pack to turn his or her salary package on its ear? What do you imagine might happen to productivity if your organization had the goal of providing an abundant life for everyone in its employ? How would your benefits package look if your organization were to ask, “What’s the best plan we can afford to offer”? 

The Bible is replete with stories of unmerited favor, of people receiving good things they didn’t deserve. If God has called us to offer good to those who haven’t earned it—the definition of grace—how much greater should our debt be to those who have earned more but receive less? 

Jesus said, “Among you it will be different.” Breaking free from the chains of conventional wisdom in this area of wages and benefits might be one of the most difficult adjustments you’ll need to face, but imagine the wonderful blessing the difference will mean for your employees. 
 
Taken from Leadership RE:Vision by Jim Seybert.  Copyright © 2009 by Jim Seybert.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.