Introduction

Dysfunction can happen anywhere, whether at home, in the government, or in your favorite sports team. Your workplace can also have a chronic state of dysfunction that wears on you. It’s not easy to spend forty-plus hours a week at a place where managers berate employees, workers feed on gossip like an addict needing their next fix, and everyone is in the habit of blaming others.

In a dysfunctional work environment, there’s the guy who wrests fleeting moments of joy from the opportunity to denigrate his co-workers. The new gal, who has occasional brief bouts of good judgment, always serves her work up with bitter herbs. The team lead is a merciless and vengeful nepotist suffering from the delusion that the entire world, including you, is out to get his job. The entire culture at your workplace nurtures an endless volley of sordid aspersions. People enter the company as regular humans. Eighteen months later, they leave as ungovernable rascals. The weekly meeting inspires a level of politicized trauma ranging from balmy bellicosity to operatic outbursts to provoking a psychotic crack-up. The vibe of the office is punctuated by rampant sullenness. When your friends ask about work, you tell them it resembles an asylum with inmates who exhibit little pliability or calm. They think you are joking.

When uncivil behavior abounds and office politics are the norm, when there is abusive supervision and overwork, Christians need special encouragement not to act like the dog that returns to its vomit (2 Pet. 2:22), like the fool repeating his folly (Prov. 26:11).

Five Principles for Navigating a Toxic Work Environment

First, don’t revile others

1 Peter 3:9, Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

Romans 12:14, Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

1 Corinthians 4:12-13, And we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.

Ephesians 4:29, Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

James 4:11, Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

Titus 3:2, To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

1 Peter 2:23, When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

To be reviled is to be insulted. If someone hurls insults at you, or gossip, or unkindness, they should not be repaid in kind. When others revile, Christians bless. When others speak lies, Christians speak truths. When others are jerks, Christians are kind. The reason Christians bless and do not curse is because, as Peter says, “To this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing” (1 Pt. 3:9). Christians are “called” to bless so that they will inherit the rewards of eternal life (Rom. 2:6-10; 2 Cor. 5:10). Then Peter gives some specific ways Christians can bless others. Keep your tongue from evil, speak the truth, do good rather than evil, seek peace, and pray (1 Pet. 3:10-12). In sum, all these verses collectively mean that when your co-workers treat you curmudgeonly, you should respond with magnanimity and a spirit of service.

Second, pray for enemies

Matthew 5:44, But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Luke 6:27-28, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”

Luke 23:34, Jesus on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Acts 7:60, Stephen while being stoned, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

A dysfunctional work environment may give you enemies. An enemy, by definition, is somebody who stands against you or is hostile to you. You may not be able to control your feelings about this person. But you can control your actions, which will take effect on your attitude.

You are less likely to hate someone you pray for. Why does it work that way? Martyn Lloyd-Jones answers, “The only thing that enables a man not to hit back, to turn the other cheek and to go the second mile, to give his cloak as well as his coat when that is forcibly demanded, and to help others in desperate need, the vital thing is that a man should be dead to himself, dead to self-interest, dead to a concern about self.”¹ It’s the ethic of self-denial, which Jesus taught (Lk. 9:23) and modeled (Phil. 2:8), which means not only should you not strike back, but you should pray for them.

Third, attend worship consistently

Heb. 12:28-29, Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Eph. 3:8, To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Col. 3:16, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Rev. 5:11-12, Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’

Things may not be right at work, but you should still worship rightly. God will bless you in this way. Worshipping every Lord’s Day renews the covenant and restores the soul, making you whole. Worship rightly orders your soul, bringing peace and goodness into your heart. Grace is one of the results of receiving preaching (Acts 4:33; 1 Cor. 15:10f). It is the restoration of the soul where love looks normal and human dignity is reclaimed. When your soul receives the grace of God through the worship service, it remembers the beauty of sacrifice and the joy of laughter.

Fourth, don’t compromise responsibilities

Colossians 3:23-24, Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

Luke 16:10, One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

1 Timothy 5:8, But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

It requires a level of dexterity to fulfill all that God has called you to. You have professional responsibilities and personal ones. You must be able to fulfill your duties at work without letting it crowd out other essential aspects of responsibility, such as family, friends, health, re-creation, rest, and so on. You must ensure fruitfulness in all areas of responsibility.

The dysfunctional work environment will wear on you, make no mistake about it. It will grind at your edges like a poorly calibrated coffee mill, leaving you coarse and bitter where you once were smooth and palatable. But it must not make a total claim on your soul. You must remember who you are, which requires remembering who Christ is and what he has done. Remembering your baptism, God’s seal upon you, will help wash away the accumulated grime of petty backbiting.

Fifth, shine your light

Prov. 4:18, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

Mt. 5:14, You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

John 12:36, While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.

Phil. 2:15, That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Light is brightest in a dark place. The fact that you are set apart to be a light implies that the world is dark. The Christian view of life is light. The world’s view of life is darkness. The function of the Christian is to be a light in the world.

You can be a light in the world because Jesus is the light of the world (Jn. 8:12; 9:5). If you follow Christ then you bring the light, as Paul says, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)” (Eph. 5:8-9).

The effect of light is to expose the darkness, not first with sermons and words and pontification, but with conduct and behavior. To be the light is not to hop up on the conference table and give a blazing sermon to the Areopagites. To be the light might be as simple as not complaining when everyone else is, remaining in good cheer when everyone is sunless, and not badmouthing people. These rays of light will suggest a different type of life, a better type, that originates in Christ the Lampstand. (Rev. 1:9-20).

When Jesus was “insulted,” he did not respond in kind. Christ prayed for his enemies that they would be forgiven and changed. The Lord’s grace is sufficient for these things, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). This is the curious arithmetic of divine provision. Your workplace may systematically subtract dignity, multiply anxiety, and divide your peace. Yet God's riches in glory remain undiminished and his gifts plentiful (James 1:17). The very sufficiency that sustained Christ and the Christian martyrs surely suffices for Monday morning meetings. His supply transcends your supervisor's scarcity of kindness. God’s grace outlasts your co-worker's boorish demeanor.

So, maybe it’s time to look for work outside the velvet bonds of your place of employ, to shake the dust off your feet, as a certain Nazarene might put it (Mt. 10:14). But, don’t assume that just because it’s arduous, you should run. There may still be many opportunities for saltiness (Mt. 5:13) where God has you.

Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of the books The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.

Other Articles

https://trinityreformedkirk.com/collection/25-theses-on-work

https://trinityreformedkirk.com/collection/should-christians-sign-the-dei-statement

Footnotes

¹ Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Eerdmans, 1976), 266.