“Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together” (Deut. 22:10).
THIS was one of God’s statutes for Israel. The New Testament command is. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14), and it answers to the Old Testament type. The clean and the unclean were not to be yoked together, the believer with the unbeliever, in any way. This applies to business which ought to be conducted so as to please God.
The distinction commonly drawn between secular and sacred things is certainly not found in the Word of God. We are told “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17); and again, “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Now it is perfectly clear from this that a believer’s secular calling is to be conducted in the Name of the Lord Jesus and to the glory of God.
When he enters the workshop, the mine, the quarry, the factory, or the office on Monday morning he ought to do so in the Name of the Lord Jesus, as truly as he entered the place where the disciples gathered in that Name on the Lord’s day. He ought to buy and sell to the glory of God and as under His holy eye, just as he worshipped and served beneath it on the first day of the week. It is by looking at business from this standpoint that we see the true character of the unequal yoke. Two men enter into a business. The one is a child of God, the other a man of the world and his desire is to make as much money as possible in the shortest possible time. They are committed to the actions of each other. It is clear they cannot really pull together. What the unbeliever sees no harm in the believer’s conscience will not allow. If the child of God yields he compromises the truth, defiling his conscience and vexing his righteous soul from day to day; and often it ends very badly for the child of God. Prospects may be good for a time. It may appear as if prosperity and success attended them; but the Word of the Lord is firm and sure. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil; “which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:10).
Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, a child of God, entered into partnership with Ahaziah king of Israel, a child of the devil, in a shipping business. They were to sail a fleet of ships to Tarshish and God in His mercy wrecked the whole fleet before they had made their first trip (see 2 Chron. 20:35-37). So that ended the joint business of Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah: and thus has ended many a partnership, bringing ruin ai’ loss to all the saints of God in connection with it. Oh, let the Lord’s people ponder this and take heed to their spirits and way and listen to what our blessed Lord has to say to us, through His holy Word.
T. Gray.