How to flourish spiritually in the marketplace: Pastor Lim Keng Yeow at IDMC 2025

What is the impact of discipleship on us? How does it affect the way we view aspects of life, including work? Do we view them differently from the world?

Let’s explore what it means to be All In disciples who flourish spiritually in the workplace. 

To do so we must look at four components of work in a disciple at work framework.

1. Provision

There are instances of God providing food and water supernaturally but by and large, working for a living is a thing in the Bible.

2 Thessalonians 3:10, “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”

1 Thessalonians 2:9, “For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel…”

Proverbs 12:11, “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.”

Here is where the biblical view of work has some overlap with the world’s view. But beyond this, the Bible sees work and provision differently from the world. 

When it comes to money, in this world we all go “more is better”. What about the Christian worldview? Surely you and I won’t turn down more money, but if we could interview the following people in the Bible, what perspectives might we gain? 

• Zaccheus in Luke 19 had far less money after meeting Jesus, but he was much better off. So is more really better?

• The rich young ruler (Matthew 9) kept his wealth even after meeting Jesus, but was he better off

• The rich fool in Luke 12 – what did he learn on hindsight? Having more meant there was more for him to give an account of, more to be a steward of.

Paul said in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things”. What are these “all things”? “I can go through all circumstances, whether I have plenty or little. The secret is contentment. With that, whether I have much or have little, I’m perfectly okay and indifferent.”

Contentment that produces indifference. A liberating kind of indifference that frees us to concentrate on other things. Make it your ambition to learn this kind of contentment.

2. Pruning

Where does spiritual formation take place? 

As I was growing up, I had one answer to this. My discipleship was very compartmentalised. Work was for making a living; family was for normal life and raising a family; church and Christian platforms was for discipleship. Every sermon I heard about work emphasised not making it our idol: “Establish firm boundaries.” 

Then we come across individuals like Eugene Peterson who said: “I’m prepared to contend that the primary location for spiritual formation is the workplace.” 

The workplace is where we spend most of our waking moments. That’s where we deal with issues such as failure, success, frustration, injustice, competition. We’re forced to confront our own insecurities, our need for validation, our greed, our jealousy. 

Ps Edmund Chan distinguishes between status, stature and substance:

• Status is about positions and titles, things the world is obsessed with. Jesus never started with any of this.

• Stature is what others see about us. It involves things like our competence, our abilities, our knowledge. 

A person could have status but no stature. It takes a while in the job to gain the necessary stature. A person could be seen to have stature, but at that moment carry no status. Someone who has just retired would have lost status, but not stature. 

For Jesus, status came when some began to follow Him as disciples and people recognised something in Him and he began to be called Rabbi. They saw how He taught with authority and captivating insight – He had stature.

• Substance is the true person God sees. This transcends skills, knowledge and competence. It’s about character and inner traits such as resilience, integrity, compassion, courage, humility. It’s about the inner life. 

What made the biggest difference in Jesus’ ministry? Not everyone recognised this in Jesus. But this was everything: His inner substance. 

Have you been growing in substance? Are you the same person you were five, 10 years ago with the same anxieties, fears, ambitions, cowardice? Have you grown? Have you subjected yourself to pruning and spiritual formation in the workplace? 

As you gain status and stature, have you become more dependent on God, not less? Have you deepened in humility? 

Make it your ambition to develop substance. This is a large part of what workplace discipleship is about. 

3. Purpose 

Our calling in life is both vertical and horizontal, like the cross – it is to love God and love our neighbour. How do we love our neighbour? A practical way is through the service we render as part of our work. 

Let’s look at our work as “MBS”: Making a difference, Being a Blessing, Serving others well. There are at least two ways this happens:

a. MBS through the work we perform

This is true whether we’re a nurse or doctor, a Grab driver or vehicle mechanic, a waiter or a restaurant owner, an office cleaner or CEO. You are there to love your neighbour as yourself and do so through the work you perform. 

When I was appointed as a DJ, people congratulated me. I didn’t feel worthy of congrats; it was just a title, just a role. If I used the role to MBS, then yes. 

A former district judge, Ps Keng Yeow shared how his late ex-boss Mr Richard Magnus modelled being an All In disciple in the workplace, “being present in difficult spaces to influence them for good.”

Then when I became a Pastor, some said it was an elevation to a higher calling. I didn’t feel so; I still don’t. A different calling, yes. Someone can be a Pastor and yet be a lazy, prideful or entitled one. 

The late Richard Magnus was my boss at the courts. He was a devoted Christian. When he retired from the courts, he was appointed the Chairman of the Casino Regulatory Authority. When he took on that role, eyebrows in some Christian circles might have raised. Why was he, in effect, supporting casinos? Knowing him, I believe he saw it differently. 

He believed in redemptive engagement, in being present in difficult spaces to influence them for good. His Christian faith didn’t isolate him from the world; it propelled him into it with purpose. Eventually under him, Singapore’s casino regulatory framework gained international recognition for its robustness, fairness and regulatory integrity. 

b. MBS in the context of work

Some of us find it challenging to see intrinsic value in our work. We may feel like a tiny cog in the corporate machinery, existing only to make profits for the organisation.

Even if this is so, there are still ways you can MBS at work. Serve your colleagues through caring for them. Be a good boss and leader who sets a powerful godly example. Set up prayer groups to support fellow believers. 

Are there eternal rewards for our “earthly and secular” day-to-day work? You carry out your work in the bank, as a business owner, as an engineer, as a civil servant – you get rewarded through your salaries and profits. Does God give eternal rewards only to full time church workers?

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.” Ephesians 6:7-8

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Colossian 3:23-24

On what basis does God give eternal rewards? Likely it’s not so much what you do, but how you carry out what you do. Do you work as if He is your ultimate boss, do you work to serve Him? Make it your ambition to gain such rewards. 

4. Platform

The Kingdom’s call is for us to be salt and light in this world, wherever we are, especially at our workplaces. 

Some of us spend many years at a workplace and never end up bringing someone to Christ. That shouldn’t be. Carry influence for Jesus. Ask God for souls at your workplace. Make it your ambition to bring someone to Jesus, every workplace you are at.

I’ll share a personal story.

I was a judge in the Child Protection Court about 13 years ago. A child aged about 12 has been under care orders: His father had been in prison, his mother could no longer care for him.

The father was just released from prison, and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) was seeking variation of the orders to name the father as a fit person who could care for the child.

The MSF report said: The father was not involved all this while, but as his release drew near, felt determined to take up responsibility over the child. They had interviewed him and felt he was genuine about this. 

I accepted the recommendation. After making the orders, I decided to speak to the father. I wanted to say something encouraging to him.

Out of my mouth came this: “Mr Z, are you a failure as a father? Your son has to be under court orders for so many years, are you a failure? You’ve been in and out of prison, not around for him, are you a failure?”

He kept silent.

Then I said: “How many halves are there in a football game?” 

He replied: “Two.”

I added: “First half, you did badly, allowed a couple of goals in. Is the game lost?”

He shook his head.

I said, “Mr Z, your son is 12 years old. Is it game over as a father? No. You still have years of influence over him. You still have the second half to play.”

“Yes,” he said.

I said: “I do not see you as a failure. From what I can see in the reports, you want to get involved in your son’s life. You’re determined to be a good father to your son. That takes a lot of courage. When you were in gangs out for fights, that’s not courage. That’s stupidity. You choosing to take up responsibility now, what is that? Courage. That doesn’t look like failure to me. I believe you have what it takes to turn things around.

“So, Mr Z, are you a failure as a father?”

“No,” he replied.

“Go and turn things around,” I ended. 

He left, a big burly and heavily tattooed man, wiping away tears. 

After I finished, I left in a state of wonder. I didn’t prep all that. I wasn’t smart enough to say all that. What just happened? 

I left telling God this: “You were amazing.” 

This story is an excerpt from Pastor Lim Keng Yeow’s Marketplace Flourishing Workshop at IDMC 2025. It has been edited for clarity. 

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